THE  NEARER.  AND 
FARTHER  EAST 

OUTLINE  STUDIES  OF  MOSLEM  LANDS 


SIAM.  BURMA  AND  KOREA 


UC-NRLF 


SAMUEL,  M.  ZWEMER, 


,  «J.9  BRQWW 


LIBRARY 

xOF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF -CALIFORNIA. 

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THE  NEARER  AND  FARTHER  EAST 


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sh.o"wirig  the 

PRESENT  EXTENT  OE  ISLAM 

With  location  of  principal  Mission  Stations 
to  reach  Moslems 


AUSTRALIA 


Moslem  Population  or  Influence |  | 

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Direction  of  Moslem  Advance ^^ 

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P.  156 


THE 
NEARER  AND  FARTHER  EAST 

OUTLINE  STUDIES  OP  MOSLEM  LANDS 

AND   OF 

SIAI,  BUBIA,  AND  KOREA 


BY 


SAMUEL  M.  ZWEMEB,  F.E.G.S. 

AND 

AKTHUB,  JUDSON  BEOWN,  D.D, 


gorfe 
THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

1908 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1908, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  April,  1908.     Reprinted 
November,  1908. 

PUBLISHED   FOE  THE   CENTEAL  COMMITTEE 
ON  THE   UNITED   STUDY   OF   MISSIONS. 


J.  S.  Cushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


FOKEWOBD 

THIS,  the  eighth  text-book  issued  by  the  Central  Commit- 
tee on  the  United  Study  of  Missions,  while  it  begins  a  new 
series,  is  closely  allied  with  the  seven  volumes  previously 
published  under  Latin  titles.  These  are  now  issued  in  library 
edition  with  English  titles,  as  follows  :  "The  Beginnings  of 
Missions,"  Louise  Manning  Hodgkins  ;  "  India,"  Caroline 
Atwater  Mason;  "China,"  Arthur  H.  Smith;  "Japan," 
William  Elliott  Griffis  ;  "  Africa,"  Ellen  C.  Parsons  ;  "  The 
Island  World  of  the  Pacific,"  Helen  Barrett  Montgomery; 
"  Missions  and  Social  Progress,"  Anna  Kobertson  Brown 
Lindsay. 

Our  present  volume,  "  THE  NEARER  AND  FARTHER  EAST," 
consists  of  two  parts,  —  "  Moslem  Lands,"  by  Rev.  Samuel 
M.  Zwemer,  D.D.,  and  "  Siam,  Burma,  and  Korea,"  by 
Rev.  Arthur  Judson  Brown,  D.D. 

Dr.  Zwemer  presents  the  terrible  need  and  marvellous 
opportunity  of  the  vast  almost  untouched  Mohammedan 
fields,  while  Dr.  Brown  paints  a  picture  of  progressive  mis- 
sionary effort  in  comparatively  small  but  important  countries. 

The  study  offers  greater  variety  than  those  heretofore 
presented,  while  maps,  charts,  pictures,  and  library  issued 
by  the  Central  Committee  will  afford  much  illustrative 
material. 

Dr.  Zwemer  has  edited  the  book  and  furnished  valuable 
assistance  on  maps  and  charts. 

MRS.  HENRY  W.   PEABODY, 

Beverly,  Mass. 
Miss  E.   HARRIET   STANWOOD, 

Congregational  House,  Boston. 
MRS.  DECATUR  M.  SAWYER, 

Montclair,  N.J. 
MRS.  CHARLES   N.   THORPE, 

Witherspoon  Building,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Miss  ELIZABETH  C.  NORTHUP, 

Waltham,  Mass. 
MRS.  A.  V.  POHLMAN, 

51U3  Race  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Miss  OLIVIA  H.   LAWRENCE, 

25  East  22d  Street,  New  York  City. 
Miss  GRACE  T.   COLBURN, 

SECRETARY  AND  TREASURER, 

Newton  Centre,  Mass, 
V 

1797GO 


OUTLINE    STUDIES 

Moslem  Lands 


Siam,  Burmah,  and  Korea 


vi 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

ISLAM  :  ITS  CHARACTER  AND  ITS  CONQUESTS       .        1 

The  scene  around  the  Kaaba  —  Many  races 
and  many  languages  —  A  world-wide  religion 

—  The  extent  of  Islam  from  Sierre  Leone  to 
Canton  —  Present  numbers  and  distribution  — 
The   situation  in  Africa  and  its  peril  —  The 
strength   of  Islam   in    Asia  —  In  India  —  The 
Philippines  —  Russia  —  Languages   spoken  by 
Moslems  —  Bible    translations  —  The    govern- 
ments under  which  Moslems  live  —  The  signifi- 
cance of  this  fact  —  Turkish  misrule  —  British 
rule  in  India  —  How  Islam  became  a  world  re- 
ligion—  Causes  —  Mohammed's  great  commis- 
sion —  Moslem    conquest  —  Xo    caste  —  What 
Moslems  believe  —  The  man  and  the  book  — 
The  Moslem  idea  of  God — The  spirit  world 

—  Jinn— The  Books  of  God  — The  Koran  — 
Verses  —  Its  defects  —  The  prophets  major  and 
minor — Jesus  Christ —  Denial  of  Atonement  — 
Mohammed  —  The  day  of  judgment — Heaven 
and  hell  —  Predestination  —  E very-day  religion 

—  The  confession  of  the  creed  —  Prayer  —  The 
Moslem  Lent — Legal  alms  —  The  pilgrimage  — 
A  Mohammedan  funeral  —  Without  Christ  and 
without  hope. 

CHAPTER  II 

THE  SOCIAL  EVILS  OF  ISLAM         ....      37 

Why  missions  to   Moslems  —  Mrs.    Bishop's 
testimony  —  Low  ideals  of  conduct  and  char- 
acter —  Moslem    ethics  —  Un  truthfulness  — 
vii 


Vlll  CONTENTS 

FAGB 

When  a  lie  is  justifiable  —  Livingstone's  testi- 
mony—  Lying  a  fine  art  —  Immorality  —  The 
seclusion  and  degradation  of  women  —  Poly- 
gamy and  divorce — Women  regarded  as  a 
chattel  —  Laws  of  divorce  —  Slavery  —  The 
slave  market —  Cruelty  and  intolerance  — Igno- 
rance and  illiteracy  —  Paucity  of  literature  — 
General  ignorance  —  Superstition  and  quackery 

—  Charms  and  amulets  —  Tree  worship  —  The 
Gospel  the  only  remedy. 

CHAPTER  in 

THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS  TO  MOSLEMS         .        .      71 
The  centuries  of  neglect  —  Lull's  complaint 

—  Henry  Martyn  —  Dr.  Jessup's  classic  — Islam 
passed  by  —  Typical  pioneers  and  typical  fields 

—  Need  of  brevity   in  treatment  —  Occupied 
lands  —  Three  great  pioneers  —  Raymund  Lull 

—  His  birth  and  early  life  —  Call  —  Service  — 
Martyrdom  —  Henry   Martyn  —  His  character 
and  call  —  Voyages  —  Controversy  —  Death  — 
Pfander  —  A  master   of   languages  —  At   Ker- 
manshah  —  Expelled  from  Russia —  His  method 
and  success  —  The  Gospel  in  North  Africa  — 
Marks  of  early  Christianity — The  North  Africa 
Mission  —  Morocco  —  Algeria  —  Tunis  —  Tri- 
poli —  Converts  in  these  lands  —  Egypt  and  the 
Christian   Crusade  —  The   Church  Missionary 
Society  —  The  Nile  press  —  The  Cairo  Confer- 
ence—  The   Turkish   Empire  —  Moslems  neg- 
lected —  But  much  accomplished  —  The  Arabic 
Bible — Present   status  —  Arabia  —  Long   neg- 
lected —  Keith  Falconer  and  the  Scotch  Mission 

—  The  Danish  Church  —  Bishop  French  —  The 
American  Arabian  Mission  —  Peter  J.  Zwemer 

—  Other  martyrs  —  Missions  in  Persia  —  Early 
efforts  —  Growth  of   the   C.  M.  S.  Mission  — 
The  American   Presbyterian   Mission  —  Work 


CONTENTS  IX 

PAGE 

for  Moslems  in  India  —  Results  —  Converts  — 
Gospel  triumphs  in  the  Dutch  East  Indies  — 
Sumatra  and  Java — Hester  Needham —  Saint 
and  martyr — Converts  in  Sumatra  —  Java. 

CHAPTER  IV 

THE  WORK  THAT  REMAINS  TO  BE  DONE      .        .    113 

The  unoccupied  fields  —  Where  work  has  be- 
gun—  Where  it  has  not  yet  been  attempted  — 
Darkest  Africa  —  The  Sudan  —  Its  call  to-day 

—  The  Moslem  peril  —  Islam  or  Christ —  Pastor 
Wurz's  testimony  —  Uganda  —  Moslem  women 
in  the  Central  Sudan  and  their  condition  — 
Immorality  —  Darkest  Asia  —  Neglected  oppor- 
tunities —  Kafiristan  —  Afghanistan  and  Balu- 
chistan —  Neglected     Arabia  —  Russia     and 
Bokhara  —  A  pen-picture  —  Victory  is  certain 

—  Mohammedans  in  China  —  Long  neglected 

—  Early  entrance  —  Present   numbers  —  Tur- 
kestan—  The  land  and  the  people  —  A  mar- 
riage   ceremony  —  Difficulties    of    work    for 
Moslems  —  Divorce  between  morality  and  re- 
ligion —  Intolerance  —  Persecution  —  Objec- 
tions  to    Christian   teaching  —  The   temporal 
power  —  No  free  press  —  Encouragements  — 
Change  in  the  Moslem  mind  —  Thirst  for  a 
Mediator  —  Many  opportunities  —  A  trumpet- 
call  from   Algiers  —  A  challenge  to   faith  — 
Fling  out  the  banner. 


CHAPTER  V 
SIAM 157 

Siam  —  Boundaries  —  Area  —  Climate  — 
Physical  Geography  —  Flora  —  Products  —  Ex- 
ports and  imports  —  Races  —  Population  — 
The  people  of  Laos  —  Chinese  the  strongest  ele- 


CONTENTS 


ment  in  Siam  —  Characteristics  of  the  Siamese 

—  Remarkable  progress  —  Police  —  Schools  — 
Railroads —  Desire  for  education  —  Government 

—  Unstable  foundation  of  society  —  Intemper- 
ance —  Gambling  —  Bangkok,    the    capital  — 
Lack  of  sanitation  —  Population  —  Roads  and 
canals  —  Commerce  —  The  white   elephants  — 
Ayuthia  —  Important  cities  and  towns — His- 
tory  and   government  —  Boasted   antiquity  — 
Early   wars  —  Enlightened  policy   of   present 
king  —  His    commissioners  —  Constitutional 
features  of  government  —  Protestant  missions 

—  Period  of  beginnings  —  First  missionaries  — 
The  Congregational  Mission — Early  discour- 
agements—  Lack  of  apparent  success  —  With- 
drawal of  mission  to  China  —  American  Baptist 
Missionary    Union  —  Converts  —  Disasters  — 
Closing  of  mission  —  Permanent  results —  Pres- 
byterian Missions  —  Difficulties  —  End  of  oppo- 
sition—  Progress  —  Proclamation  of   religious 
liberty — Stations  —  Scope  of  the  work  —  Be- 
ginnings  in   Laos  —  Persecution  —  Religious 
liberty  — Present  status —  Work  at  Chieng  Mai 
and  Lakawn — Results  of  missionary  effort  — 
Social  reforms  —  Favorable  testimony  —  Indif- 
ferent attitude  toward  religion  a  great  obstacle 

—  Encouragements  —  Religious  expectation  — 
Great  opportunity. 

CHAPTER  VI 
BURMA 209 

Area  —  Position  —  Physical  features  —  Cli- 
mate —  Flora  —  Population  —  Characteristics 
of  the  race  —  No  caste  —  Dress  —  Comparative 
freedom  of  women  —  Vices  —  The  Karens  — 
Their  traditions  —  Ready  acceptance  of  the 
Gospel  —  The  Talaings,  or  Mons  —  The  Shans 

—  The  Kachins  and  Chins — Demon -worship- 
pers —  Chinese  —  East   Indians  —  Rangoon  — 


CONTENTS  XI 

PAGE 

Commercial  importance  —  Other  cities  —  Gov- 
ernment —  Wars  —  British  rule  —  Religions  — 
Buddhism  —  Missionary  Societies  —  China  In- 
land Mission — Missionary  Society  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  —  Wesleyan  Methodist 
Missionary  Society  —  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  —  Their  work  among  the 
Karens  —  Results — American  Baptist  Mission- 
ary Union  —  Persecution  —  Heroism  of  mis- 
sionaries —  Success  of  work  among  the  Karens 

—  Difficulties  of  Buddhism  —  Work  among  Te- 
lains,  Shans,  and  Kachins  —  Converts   among 
the    Chins  —  Medical    missionaries  —  Educa- 
tional work  —  Efficient  service  of  women  mis- 
sionaries —  Hopefulness  of  the  field. 

CHAPTER  VII 
KOREA 257 

Korea  —  Physical  features  —  Soil  and  scenery 

—  Population  —  Important    cities  —  Language 

—  Characteristics  of  the  people  —  Position  of 
women  —  Dress  —  Customs  —  Revolutions  — 
Religions  —  Buddhism  —  Confucianism  —  Sha- 
manism, the  prevailing  religion  —  Superstition 

—  Sorcery  —  Government  —  Russo-Japanese 
War  —  Japanese  Reforms  —  Period  of  Recon- 
struction —  The   Presbyterian    Mission  —  The 
Methodist  Mission  —  Persecution  —  Effect  of 
War  of   1894  —  Revival  —  Sorai  —  Christian 
Village  Life  —  Important  stations  —  Work  for 
women  —  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  —  Southern  Presbyterian  Mission  —  Co- 
operation of  Missionary  Workers  —  Canadian 
Presbyterian  Mission  — Other  Workers — Causes 
for  Spread  of  the  Gospel — Obstacles — Koreans 
an  example  to  Christians  —  A  Tonic  to  Faith 

—  Call  for  immediate  evangelization. 

INDEX 317 


FOUR  CHAPTERS 

ON 

MOSLEM    LANDS 

FOR   THE 

UNITED  STUDY  TEXT-BOOK  (1908) 

BY 
SAMUEL   M.  ZWEMER,  F.R.G.S. 


"Mohammedanism  is  a  profound  theme,  and  one 
which  has  occupied  the  minds  of  many  accomplished 
scholars.  It  has  been  the  subject  of  much  patient  re- 
search and  careful  thought  by  some  of  the  greatest  stu- 
dents of  history.  Dr.  Johnson  once  remarked  that '  there 
are  two  objects  of  curiosity  —  the  Christian  world  and 
the  Mohammedan  world ;  all  the  rest  may  be  considered 
as  barbarous.'  The  subject  is  worthy  of  a  careful  exami- 
nation, both  for  its  own  sake  as  one  of  the  enigmas  of 
religious  history,  and  also  to  prepare  our  minds  for  an 
intelligent  understanding  of  the  amazing  task  to  which 
God  is  leading  the  Church ;  viz.  the  conversion  of  the 
Moslem  world  to,  Christianity.  The  duty  of  Christianity 
to  Mohammedanism,  the  enormous  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  discharging  it,  the  historic  grandeur  of  the  con- 
flict, the  way  in  which  the  honor  of  Christ  is  involved  in 
the  result,  and  the  brilliant  issues  of  victory  all  combine 
to  make  this  problem  of  the  true  relation  of  Christian 
missions  to  Islam  one  of  the  most  fascinating  and  mo- 
mentous themes  which  the  great  missionary  movement 
of  the  present  century  has  brought  to  the  attention  of 
the  Christian  church."  —  REV.  JAMES  S.  DENNIS,  D.D. 


MOSLEM   LANDS 

CHAPTER   I 

ISLAM  :    ITS   CHARACTER   AND    ITS   CONQUESTS 

The  Scene  around  the  Kaaba.  —  Let  us  imagine  Scene 
that  we  are  standing  among  the  vast  throng  of  ~ou?d 
worshippers  facing  the  Kaaba  in  the  sacred  City 
of  Mecca,  Anno  Domini  1907.  It  is  the  month 
of  the  pilgrimage,  the  twelfth  of  the  lunar  cal- 
endar, and  this  is  the  second  day  of  our  pilgrim- 
age. Yesterday  the  thousands  on  camels  and 
horseback  and  the  ten  thousands  on  foot  reached 
Mecca  and,  having  assumed  the  garb  of  pil- 
grims, a  strip  of  white  cloth,  entered  the 
mosque,  kissed  the  Black  Stone  and  made  the 
circuit  of  the  Kaaba  seven  times.  They  drank 
from  the  holy  well  of  Zem  Zem  and  ran  the 
race  between  the  hills  Safa  and  Merwa  like 
Hagar  of  old  in  search  of  water.  To-day,  facing 
the  place  where  Abraham  stood  when  he  built 
the  house,  as  they  believe,  the  mighty  throng 
recite  with  one  accord :  — 

"  There  is  no  god  but  Allah. 

"  God  is  great. 

"  There  is  no  god  save  Allah  alone. 

"  He  hath  performed  His  promise  and  hath  aided  His 
servant  and  put  to  flight  the  hosts  of  infidels  by  Himself 
alone.  There  is  no  god  but  Allah,  and  Mohammed  is  His 
apostle." 

B  1 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Many 
Languages 


A  World- 
wide Reli- 
gion 


The  tongue  spoken  is  Arabic,  but  those  who 
speak  it  all  around  us  are  surely  not  only  Arabs, 
but  Moslems  from  every  nation  under  heaven, 
who  show  by  feature  and  form  that  when  at 
home  they  speak  Russian,  Turkish,  Persian, 
Pashtu,  Bengali,  Urdu,  Chinese,  Malay,  Swaheli, 
Hausa,  and  other  languages.  Around  the  same 
Kaaba  diverse  lands  and  civilizations  meet 
every  year  to  profess  one  religion  and  repeat 
the  same  ritual. 

On  the  streets  of  Mecca  one  may  see,  drawn 
together  by  a  common  faith,  the  Turkish  effendi 
in  Paris  costume  with  Constantinople  etiquette; 
the  half-naked  Bedouin  of  the  desert ;  the  fierce 
Afghan  mountaineer ;  the  Russian  trader  from 
the  far  north;  the  almond-eyed  Moslem  from 
Yunnan  ;  the  Indian  graduate  from  the  Calcutta 
universities  ;  blue-eyed  Persians,  black  Somalis, 
Hausas,  Javanese,  Sudanese,  Egyptians,  Ber- 
bers, Kabyles,  and  Moors,  —  representatives  of 
the  Mohammedan  World. 

A  World-wide  Religion. —  If  we  regard  num- 
bers, Islam  is  perhaps  the  mightiest  of  all  the 
non-Christian  religions ;  as  regards  its  geo- 
graphical distribution,  it  is  the  only  religion 
besides  Christianity  which  holds  a  world-empire 
of  hearts  in  its  grasp ;  and  its  wonderful  and 
rapid  spread  proves  beyond  a  doubt  that  it  is  a 
great  missionary  religion  and  aims  at  world- 
conquest.  Mohammed's  word  has  been  ful- 
filled :  "  So  we  have  made  you  the  centre  of 
the  nations  that  you  should  bear  witness  to 
men." 


ISLAM  3 

The  old,  almost  unknown,  pagan  pantheon 
at  Mecca  has  become  the  religious  capital  and 
the  centre  of  universal  pilgrimage  for  one- 
seventh  of  the  human  race  !  Islam  in  its 
present  extent  embraces  three  continents,  and 
counts  its  believers  from  Sierra  Leone  in  Africa 
to  Canton  in  China,  and  from  Tobolsk,  Siberia, 
to  Singapore  and  Java.  In  Russia,  Moslems 
spread  their  prayer-carpets  southward  toward 
Mecca  ;  at  Zanzibar  they  look  northward  to  the 
Holy  City  ;  in  Kansu  and  Shensi  millions  of 
Chinese  Moslems  pray  toward  the  west,  and  in 
the  wide  Sudan  they  look  eastward  toward 
the  Beit  Allah  and  the  Black  Stone,  a  vast 
Moslem  brotherhood. 

Present  Numbers  and  Distribution.  —  The  best  Moslem 
estimates  of  the  total  Mohammedan  population  p°Pulatlon 
of  the  world  lead   to  the  belief  that  there  are 
between   200,000,000  and  250,000,000  who  are 
at  least  nominally  followers  of  Mohammed.     At 
the  Cairo  Conference,    held  in  1907,  carefully 
prepared  statistics   gave   the   total   number  of 
Mohammedans  as  232,966,170. 

Islam  has  covered  the  largest  area  in  Africa, 
where  its  conquest  and  missionary  propaganda 
has  resulted  in  a  stronghold  of  Mohammedan- 
ism along  the  whole  Mediterranean.  North  of 
twenty  degrees  north  latitude  the  Moslems 
constitute  ninety-one  per  cent  of  the  total 
population  !  Thirty-six  per  cent  of  Africa's 
entire  population  is  Mohammedan,  or  nearly 
59,000,000  souls  out  of  the  whole  number  of 
164,000,000.  South  of  the  equator  there  are 


4  MOSLEM  LANDS 

already  over  4,000,000  Mohammedans,  and  in 
the  Congo  Free  State  there  are  said  to  be  nearly 
2,000,000. 

Islam  in  The  situation  in  Africa,  as  regards  Islam,  is 

alarming,  and  can  be  summarized  in  the  words 
of  Rev.  Charles  R.  Watson,  D.D.,  "  The  mis- 
sionary problem  of  Africa  is  not  paganism, 
which  fast  crumbles  away  before  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  but  Islam,  which  resists  like  adamant  the 
appeals  of  the  herald  of  the  cross."1  Dr.  W. 
R.  Miller,  for  many  years  a  missionary  in  West 
Africa,  states  that  "Islam  seems  to  be  spreading 
in  Lagos,  the  Yoruba  country,  Sierra  Leone, 
and  the  French  Sudan  ;  but  in  most  of  these 
places,  as  also  in  the  Nupe  country,  it  is  of  a 
very  low  order,  and  in  the  presence  of  a  vigorous 
Christian  propaganda  it  will  not  add  strength 
finally  to  Islam.  Still  the  number  of  Moslems 
is  undoubtedly  increasing  greatly.  Islam  and 
Christianity  between  them  are  spoiling  heathen- 
ism, and  will  probably  divide  the  pagan  peoples 
in  less  than  fifty  years."2 

in  Asia  In  Asia  there  are  169,000,000  Moslems,  one- 

seventh  of  the  entire  population,  while  in  Eu- 
rope Islam  has  been  crowded  back  through  the 
centuries,  since  it  was  defeated  in  Spain,  and  now 
numbers  less  than  6,000,000  adherents. 

The  following  countries  in  Asia  are  predomi- 
nantly or  wholly  Moslem  :  Arabia,  Asia  Mi- 
nor, Mesopotamia,  Turkestan,  Bokhara,  Khiva, 
Afghanistan,  Baluchistan,  Java,  Sumatra,  Cele- 

1  "The  Mohammedan  World  of  To-day, "  p.  47. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  285. 


ISLAM  0 

bes,  and  the  southern  islands  of  the  Philippine 
group. 

The  chief  numerical  strength  of  the  Moham-  India 
medan  faith,  however,  is  in  India,  which  has  a 
larger  Moslem  population  than  all  Africa  and 
far  more  than  the  total  populations  of  Arabia, 
Persia,  Egypt,  and  the  Turkish  Empire  com- 
bined. By  the  last  government  census  the 
number  of  Moslems  in  India  is  62,458,077.  In 
Bengal  alone  there  are  25,495,416,  and  in  the 
Punjaub,  12,183,345.  In  the  Dutch  East  Indies 
there  are  nearly  30,000,000  Moslems  out  of  a 
total  population  of  36,000,000.  The  number 
of  Moslems  in  China  is  variously  given  from 
20,000,000  to  30,000,000,  the  largest  number 
being  in  the  province  of  Kansu,  in  the  extreme 
northwest,  where  8,350,000  are  reported.  Some 
6,500,000  are  found  in  Shensi  in  the  north,  and 
3,500,000  in  Yunnan  in  the  extreme  south- 
west. In  Peking  there  are  100,000  Moslems, 
and  Canton  has  four  mosques. 

In  the  Philippines  there  are  about  300,000  Philippines 
Mohammedans,  men  of  courage  and  wild  fa- 
naticism, who  fought  for  their  faith  with 
splendid  devotion  against  the  American  troops 
in  1902—1903,  but  suffered  ignominious  de- 
feat.1 

In  the  Russian  Empire  there  are  13,889,421  Russia 
Moslems,  most  of  them  in  Asia.  It  is  re- 
markable that  we  hear  much  more  of  the  Rus- 
sian Jews,  who  form  only  four  per  cent  of  the 
population,  than  of  Russian  Moslems,  who  form 
1  See  pp.  221-226  in  "  Christus  Redemptor." 


6  MOSLEM  LANDS 

over  eleven  per  cent  of  the  total  population  in 
that  great  empire. 

Language  Languages  spoken  by  Moslems.  —  The  sacred 
language  of  the  Moslem  is  Arabic,  and  the 
Arabic  Koran  is  the  text-book  in  all  Moslem 
schools  from  Morocco  to  Canton  and  from 
Bokhara  to  Zanzibar.  As  a  written  language, 
the  Arabian  tongue  has  millions  of  readers, 
and  yet  to  over  three-fourths  of  the  "  true 
believers"  Arabic  is  a  dead  language.  Sixty- 
three  million  Moslems  speak  the  languages  of 
India ;  30,000,000  speak  Chinese,  and  as  many 
more  the  Malay  tongue ;  others  Turkish,  Per- 
sian, Slavonic,  and  the  languages  of  Africa. 
All  of  which  shows  the  polyglot  character  of 
the  Mohammedan  world. 

The  Bible,  in  whole  or  in  part,  has  been 
translated  into  nearly  every  language  spoken 
by  Moslems  ;  but  not  the  Koran,  their  own 
sacred  book.  This  is  generally  circulated  only 
in  the  original  Arabic.  Interlinear  translations 
of  the  Koran  with  the  original  text  exist,  how- 
ever, in  Persian,  Urdu,  Pushtu,  Turkish,  Java- 
nese, Malayan,  and  two  or  three  other  languages. 
A  missionary  among  the  25,000,000  Moslems 
of  Bengal  is  preparing  a  translation  into  Ben- 
gali, with  notes,  so  that  the  Moslems  may  see 
for  themselves  the  real  character  of  their  spuri- 
ous revelation ! 

To  the  bulk  of  the  Mohammedans  Arabic  is 
a  dead  language,  and  the  ritual  and  prayers 
are  no  more  understood  by  the  people  than 
the  Latin  prayers  are  by  the  Roman  Catholic 


ISLAM  1 

peasantry  in  Europe.     The  chief  literary  Ian-  Literary 
guages  of  Islam  next  to  Arabic  are  Turkish,  Languases 
Persian,   Urdu,  and  Bengali.     In  all  of  these 
languages  there  is  a  large  religious  literature, 
dogmatic,  apologetic,  and  controversial.     Even 
in   Chinese  there  is  a  considerable  amount  of 
Mohammedan    literature.       Some    works     are 
published    under   the  imprimatur  of   the   Em- 
peror,  but  a  translation   of  the   Koran  is  not 
permitted. 

From  all  these  facts  in  regard  to  race  and 
language  and  the  world-wide  distribution  of 
the  peoples  that  follow  this  greatest  of  non- 
Christian  religions,  it  is  very  evident  that  the 
environment  and  conditions  differ  widely  in  the 
Mohammedan  world.  Perhaps  the  most  im- 
portant factor  that  differentiates  the  Moslem 
masses  as  regards  their  accessibility  to  the 
missionary  is  government. 

The  Governments  under  which  Moslems  Live.  Government 
—  These  may  be  grouped  into  three  classes : 
the  Moslem  lands,  which  are  still  under  a  purely 
Mohammedan  government;  those  where  Mos- 
lems live  under  the  rule  of  those  who  are 
neither  Moslem  nor  Christian;  and  the  lands 
actually  or  nominally  under  Christian  rule.  To 
the  first  class  belong  Turkey  in  Europe  and  in 
Asia,  parts  of  Arabia,  Afghanistan,  Persia, 
Morocco,  and  Tripoli;  to  the  second  class,  the 
Moslems  in  China  and  in  a  few  independent 
states  of  Africa  and  Asia.  All  the  other  Mo- 
hammedans in  the  world  are  under  Christian 
rule,  protection,  or  suzerainty  to  the  number  of 


8 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


God's  hand 
in  History 


Turkish 
Rule 


161,000,000,  or  nearly  three-fourths  of  the  total 
number  in  the  world. 

This  fact  is  a  startling  evidence  of  the  finger 
of  God  in  history  and  a  wonderful  challenge  of 
opportunity.  Once  the  empire  of  Islam  was 
co-extensive  with  the  faith  of  Islam.  In  the 
year  907  A.D.  the  caliphate  included  Spain, 
Morocco,  Algiers,  Tunis,  Tripoli,  Egypt,  Asia 
Minor,  Syria,  Arabia,  Persia,  Turkestan,  Afghan- 
istan, Baluchistan,  and  the  region  around  the 
Caspian  Sea.  To-day  the  Sultan,  Abdul  Hamid, 
from  his  lordly  palace  on  the  Bosphorus,  rules 
over  a  smaller  Moslem  population  by  one-half 
than  does  the  Protestant  Queen  Wilhelmina  in 
her  island  possessions  in  Malaysia  with  their 
29,289,440  Mohammedans.  The  balance  of 
political  power  throughout  the  whole  Moham- 
medan world  is  coming  to  be  more  and  more  in 
the  hands  of  Christian  governments,  and  it  is 
no  wonder  that  this  has  resulted  in  political 
unrest  on  the  part  of  Moslem  leaders  who  are 
zealous  of  their  lost  prestige  and  anxious  to 
strengthen  the  empire  of  Turkey  as  represent- 
ing the  old  caliphate. 

Turkey  is  perhaps  as  well  governed  as  any 
other  state  under  Mohammedan  rule,  but  of  the 
system  of  civil  tyranny  that  obtains  there,  Dr. 
James  S.  Dennis  says :  "  A  volume  might  be 
written  upon  this  one  subject  of  Turkish  mis- 
rule. Would  that  some  Dante  of  contemporary 
literature  might  present  it  in  its  realistic 
hideousness !  although  we  fear  no  touch  of  art 
could  sufficiently  relieve  the  revolting  ghastli- 


ISLAM  9 

ness  of  this  hell  upon  earth  to  save  the  reader 
from  a  shuddering  misery  in  its  perusal."1 
The  actual  condition  of  affairs  was  summed  up 
by  a  writer  in  the  Congregationalist  (April  8, 
1897)  as  follows  :  — 

"  Turkey  skilfully  and  systematically  represses  what 
Christian  nations  make  it  their  business  to  nurture  in  all 
mankind  as  manhood.  In  her  cities  there  are  magnifi- 
cent palaces  for  her  sultans  and  her  favorites.  But  one 
looks  in  vain  through  her  realm  for  statues  of  public 
benefactors.  There  are  no  halls  where  her  citizens  could 
gather  to  discuss  policies  of  government  or  mutual 
obligations.  Their  few  newspapers  are  emasculated  by 
government  censors.  Not  a  book  in  any  language  can 
cross  her  borders  without  permission  of  public  officers, 
most  of  whom  are  incapable  of  any  intelligent  judgment 
of  its  contents.  Art  is  scorned.  Education  is  bound. 
Freedom  is  a  crime.  The  tax-gatherer  is  omnipotent. 
Law  is  a  farce.  Turkey  has  prisons  instead  of  public 
halls  for  the  education  of  her  people.  Instruments  of 
torture  are  the  stimulus  to  their  industries." 

Contrast  these  conditions  with  British  rule  British 
in  India  or  the  freedom  of  the  press  and  of  Rule 
speech  in  Egypt,  and  it  is  plain  that  govern- 
ment can  be  a  great  help  or  a  great  hinderance 
in  the  work  of  missions.  Add  to  this  that  ac- 
cording to  Mohammedan  law  the  death  penalty 
should  be  imposed  on  any  one  who  becomes  an 
apostate  from  the  state  church  of  Islam,  and 
the  contrast  between  different  Moslem  lands  as 
mission  fields  becomes  very  apparent.  Thank 
God  the  door  of  opportunity  and  of  liberty  is  so 
wide  to-day  that  three-fourths  of  the  Moharn- 

1  "  Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress,"  Vol.  I,  p. 
256. 


10 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


God's 
Plough 


Reasons  for 
Spread  of 
Islam 


medaii  world  are  entirely  accessible  to  the  col- 
porteur, the  preacher,  and  the  teacher,  man  or 
woman.  God's  providence,  in  the  course  of 
history,  is  God's  ploughshare  to  prepare  the 
soil  for  the  sowing  of  His  Word. 

"  Wise  men  and  prophets  know  not  how, 
But  work  their  Master's  will; 
The  kings  and  nations  drag  the  plough 
His  purpose  to  fulfil." 

How  Islam  became  a  World- wide  Religion.  — 
The  faith  of  Islam  was  once  in  a  minority  of 
one,  and  Mohammed  himself  fled  as  an  exile 
from  Mecca  to  Medina  in  A.D.  622,  the  year 
of  the  Hegira,  which  dates  the  Moslem  era. 
What  were  the  causes  for  its  rapid  spread  and 
wide  conquest  ?  Many  theories  have  been  given, 
and  the  true  explanation  of  the  spread  of  Islam 
is  probably  the  sum  of  all  these  theories.  The 
condition  of  Arabia  before  Mohammed ;  the 
weakness  of  the  Oriental  churches;  their  corrupt 
state  ;  the  condition  of  the  Roman  and  Per- 
sian empires ;  the  easy-going  character  and  low 
moral  standards  of  the  new  religion ;  the  power 
of  the  sword  and  of  fanaticism ;  the  great  truths 
of  Islam ;  the  genius  of  Mohammed  and  of  his 
successors ;  the  hope  of  plunder  and  the  love  of 
conquest,  —  such  are  some  of  the  causes  given 
for  the  growth  of  the  new  religion  from  a  mi- 
nority of  one  into  an  army  of  200,000,000  in 
thirteen  centuries. 

Each  one  of  these  many  factors  played  an 
important  part  in  the  rapid  spread  of  the  new 
faith  as  preached  by  Mohammed.  In  this  brief 


ISLAM  11 

outline  study  of  so  large  a  subject  we  must 
leave  them  to  be  worked  out  by  reference  to 
the  many  books  on  this  subject.1 

The  last  commission  of  Mohammed  was  in 
accord  with  his  whole  life,  and  Sir  Edwin  Ar- 
nold follows  Moslem  tradition  when,  in  his 
poem  on  the  "Passing  of  Mohammed,"  he 
makes  the  dying  Prophet  say  to  Osama,  his 
general,  ready  for  the  march:  — 

"I,  here  consuming,  cheat  my  fever's  flame 
Praising  the  Lord :  but  thou,  why  tarriest  thou  ? 
Smite  me  the  unbelievers  !     Fall  at  dawn 
Upon  those  dogs  of  Obna !     Let  attack 
Sound  the  first  tidings  of  thee  !     Send  forth  scouts, 
And  Allah  give  thee  victory  !     Guide  my  palm 
That  I  may  lay  it  on  thy  head,  and  leave 
A  blessing  there.     Go  in  God's  peace  !  " 

By  the  example  and  precept  of  its  apostle,  The  Early 
Islam  is  one  of  the  few  aggressive  religions  Con(iuest 
of  the  world.  It  began  with  the  Saracen 
conquest  and  continued  for  thirteen  centu- 
ries until  the  Wahhabi  revival  and  the  Pan- 
Islamic  movement  of  to-day.  In  the  words 
of  the  Koran,  the  Moslem  must  "  fight  against 
infidels  till  strife  be  at  an  end  and  the  religion 
be  all  of  God."  And  Mohammed  said,  "He 
who  dies  and  has  not  fought  for  the  religion 
of  Islam,  nor  has  even  said  in  his  heart,  'Would 
to  God  I  were  a  champion  that  could  die  in  the 
road  of  God,'  is  even  as  a  hypocrite."  And 
again,  still  more  forcibly,  "The  fire  of  hell 

1  See  Bibliography  at  the  end  of  this  chapter  ;  also  u  Lux 
Ckristi,"  pp.  48-51 ;  "  Christus  Liberator,"  pp.  58-62. 


12  MOSLEM  LANDS 

shall  not  touch  the  legs  of  him  who  is  covered 
with  the  dust  of  battle  in  the  road  of  God." 
In  spite  of  cruelty,  bloodshed,  dissension,  and 
deceit,  the  story  of  the  Moslem  missionary  con- 
quest, as  given  by  Haines  and  Arnold,1  is  full 
of  heroism  and  inspiration.  If  so  much  was 
done  in  the  name  of  Mohammed,  what  should 
we  not  dare  to  do  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  I 

And  before  we  consider  what  kind  of  creed 
was  carried  by  fire  and  sword,  by  force  and  by 
persuasion,  over  three  continents,  it  is  well  to 
remember  what  is  already  evident  from  its- 
No  Caste  world-conquest,  that  Islam  is  a  religion  without 
caste.  It  extinguishes  all  distinctions  founded 
upon  race,  color,  or  nationality.  All  unbelievers 
are  out-castes,  all  believers  belong  to  the  high- 
est caste.  The  Hindu  who  turns  Mohammedan 
loses  his  caste,  but  becomes  a  member  of  the 
great  brotherhood  of  Islam.  Slaves  have  held 
thrones  and  founded  dynasties.  The  first  one 
who  led  the  call  to  prayer  was  Bilal,  a  Negro  of 
Medina.  There  is  no  sacerdotal  class  of  min- 
isters in  Islam.  Each  man  offers  prayer  to 
God  himself  ;  the  leader  of  prayers  in  a  mosque 
has  no  spiritual  authority. 

What  Moslems  Believe.  —  Islam  was  a  revolt 
against  paganism  and  idolatry  and  therefore 
cannot,  in  a  sense,  be  classed  with  the  heathen 
religions.  Its  popular  creed,  "  There  is  no  god 
but  Allah  and  Mohammed  is  Allah's  apostle," 

i"  Islam  as  a  Missionary  Religion,1'  C.  R.  Haines, 
S.P.C.K.,  London,  1889 ;  "  The  Preaching  of  Islam,"  T.  W. 
Arnold,  London,  1896. 


ISLAM  13 

emphasizes  monotheism  with  violent  fanaticism. 
The  true  Moslem  man  or  woman  is  intolerant 
of  error  in  this  matter.  Even  an  Arab  child 
will  grow  hot-tempered  when  he  hears  a  word 
from  the  Christian  missionary  that  seems  to  Belief 
conflict  with  the  Moslem  idea  of  God's  unity. 
This  Puritan  spirit  is  a  praiseworthy  trait  in 
any  religion.  Islam  has  in  it  the  stuff  that 
martyrs  and  reformers  are  made  of  ;  its  pro- 
fessors are  valiant  for  the  truth,  as  they 
understand  it,  and  have  the  spinal  column 
of  conviction. 

The  Koran  is  not  the  word  of  God,  but  the  The  Koran 
Moslem  believes  it  is,  and  believes  it  with  his 
whole  heart.  While  their  belief  is  unreasoning, 
and  though  the  Koran  is  anything  but  divine, 
it  is  no  small  matter  to  realize  that  in  these 
days  of  universal  doubt  and  irreverence  there 
are  millions  of  Moslems  who  believe  that  God 
has  spoken  to  man  by  the  prophets  ;  that  His 
word  contains  neither  errors  nor  untruths  ; 
and  that  the  end  of  all  disputation  is  a  "Thus 
saith  the  Lord."  Converts  from  Islam  love  the 
Bible  with  a  passionate  love,  and  respect  its 
authority.  But  the  Koran  is  not  the  only 
source  for  Moslem  teaching.  Far  more  impor- 
tant than  the  book  is  the  man  who  gave  it. 
Mohammed's  life  and  teaching,  his  table-talk,  Mohammed 
his  manners,  his  dress,  his  behavior,  to  the 
most  childish  details  are  the  foundation  of  what 
is  called  Tradition.  And  Moslem  tradition  is 
the  warp  and  woof  of  their  creed  and  their 
conduct.  What  Mohammed  believed,  they 


14  MOSLEM  LANDS 

must  believe,  too,  and  believe  it  because  he  did. 
The  prophet  said,  "  It  is  incumbent  upon  the 
true  believer  to  have  a  firm  faith  in  six  arti- 
cles; viz.,  in  God,  His  Angels,  His  books,  His 
prophets,  the  day  of  judgment,  and  the  predes- 
tination for  good  and  evil."  Let  us  see  what 
this  belief  includes. 

idea  of  God  (1)  The  Moslem  Idea  of  God.  —  St.  James  in 
his  epistle  gives  us  a  test  as  regards  the 
ethical  and  religious  value  of  mere  monotheism 
apart  from  the  Trinity  in  the  words  :  "  Thou 
believest  that  there  is  one  God  ;  thou  doest 
well ;  the  devils  also  believe  and  tremble." 
Jews,  Christians,  and  Mohammedans  believe  in 
the  only  God,  and  yet  differ  very  widely  in  their 
interpretation  of  this  idea. 

James  Freeman  Clarke,  writing  of  this  "  worst 
form  of  monotheism,"  sums  up  the  distinction 
thus  :  "  Islam  saw  God  but  not  man ;  saw  the 
claims  of  deity  but  not  the  rights  of  humanity; 
saw  authority  but  failed  to  see  freedom  —  there- 
fore hardened  into  despotism,  stiffened  into 
formalism,  and  sank  into  death.  Mohammed 
teaches  a  God  above  us,  Moses  teaches  a  God 
above  us,  and  yet  with  us  ;  Jesus  Christ  teaches 
God  above  us,  God  with  us  and  God  in  us." 
Another  writer  calls  Allah,  the  God  of  Islam, 
"an  absentee  landlord,  who,  jealous  of  man, 
wound  the  clock  of  the  universe  and  went  away 
forever  ! " 

The  Koran  shows  that  Mohammed  had  a 
measurably  correct  idea  of  the  physical  attri- 
butes of  God,  but  an  absolutely  false  conception 


ISLAM  15 

of  His  moral  attributes.  The  Koran  concep- 
tion of  God  is  negative.  Absolute  sovereignty 
and  ruthless  omnipotence  are  His  chief  at- 
tributes, while  His  character  is  loveless  as 
a  Despot.  The  Christian  truth  that  "  God 
is  love "  is  to  the  learned  Moslem  blasphemy 
and  to  the  ignorant  an  enigma.  Islam  is  "  the 
Pantheism  of  Force."  God  is  a  Pasha  arid  not 
a  Father. 

(2)  The  Spirit  World.  —  With  God's  name  Spirits 
always  on  their  lips,  and  yet  with  so  deistic  and 
fatalistic  an  idea  of  God  (who  is  more  of  a 
tyrant  than  a  father),  it  is  no  wonder  that  Islam 
makes  much  of  other  spiritual  beings  who  are 
God's  ministers  for  good  and  for  evil.  Moslems 
believe  in  angels,  jinn,  and  devils,  and  their 
belief  in  these  spirits  is  not  a  matter  of  theory, 
but  intensely  practical.  They  say  angels  were 
created  out  of  light  and  are  endowed  with  life, 
speech,  and  reason.  Of  the  four  archangels, 
Gabriel  reveals  the  truth,  Michael  is  patron  of 
the  Jews,  Israfil  will  sound  the  last  trumpet, 
and  Azrael  is  the  angel  of  death.  Angels  are 
inferior  to  the  prophets  (Surah  2  :  32).  There 
are  two  recording  angels  for  each  person,  who 
write  down  his  good  and  his  ill.  Munkar  and 
Nakir  are  two  black  angels  with  blue  eyes  who  Angels 
interrogate  men  after  burial  in  the  grave  and 
mete  out  terrible  blows  to  those  whose  replies 
prove  them  not  Moslems.  Therefore,  at  a 
funeral,  parting  instructions  are  given  the 
deceased  in  the  grave. 

One  can  go  to   the   stories   of  the   Arabian 


16  MOSLEM  LANDS 

Nights  to  learn  how  large  a  place  the  belief  in 
jinn  or  genii  occupies  to-day  in  the  Moslem 
mind.  There  is  no  pious  Moslem  who  doubts 
that  these  spirits  exist  and  are  continually 
the  cause  of  many  things  that  seem  to  be  super- 
natural or  startling  in  nature.  The  Koran  tells 
how  they  helped  Solomon  to  build  the  temple  and 
how  they  carried  his  throne ;  how  Mohammed 
preached  to  a  company  of  them  and  converted 
them  ;  and  how  we  are  to  pray  that  their  evil 
influence  may  not  hurt  us. 

They  were  created  from  fire,  are  of  diverse 
shapes,  often  invisible,  and  of  great  number  ; 
they  marry  and  propagate,  but  are  morta"  T^or 
the  latter  reason,  the  Arabs,  after  a  mea, 
throw  away  their  date  stones  violently,  for 
jinn  fear  they  might  unconsciously  hurt  some  jinn  I 

Solomon  sealed  some  of  them  up  in  brass  bot- 
tles. The  chief  abode  of  jinn  is  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Kaf,  which  encompass  the  world.  They 
also  frequent  baths,  wells,  ruined  houses,  and 
graveyards.  For  fear  of  jinn,  millions  of  the 
ignorant,  especially  the  poor  women  and  chil- 
dren, are  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage. 
This  article  of  the  creed  is  the  mother  of  a 
thousand  foolish  and  degrading  superstitions, 
yet  it  is  fixed  forever  in  the  Moslem  faith  and 
cannot  be  abandoned  until  the  Koran  itself  is 
rejected. 

A  third  class  of  spiritual  beings  are  the 
devils.  They  believe  in  a  personal  Devil  and 
his  demonic  host.  Noteworthy  among  the  lat- 
ter are  Harut  and  Marut,  two  evil  spirits  that 


ISLAM  17 

teach  men  sorcery,  and  live  near  Babylon.  No  Demons 
Moslem  begins  to  read  the  Koran  or  starts  a 
prayer  without  "  seeking  refuge  in  God  from 
Satan,  the  pelted."  The  reason  for  this  epithet 
is  that  Mohammed  said  Satan  used  to  be  an 
eavesdropper  at  the  door  of  heaven  until  God 
and  the  angels  drove  him  back  by  pelting  him 
with  shooting  stars ! 

(3)  The  Books  of  God.  —  Islam  is  decidedly  The  Books 
a  bookish  religion,  for  Moslems  believe  that  ofGod 
God  "sent  down"  one  hundred  and  four  sa- 
cred books.  Their  doctrine  of  inspiration  is  me- 
chanic al.  Adam,  they  say,  received  ten  books; 
Seth  i fifty ;  Enoch,  thirty ;  and  Abraham,  ten ; 
but  jll  of  these  are  utterly  lost.  The  four 
books  that  remain  are  the  Torah  (Law),  which 
came  from  Moses  ;  the  Zabur  (Psalms),  which 
David  received  ;  the  Injil  (Gospel),  of  Jesus ; 
and  the  Koran.  The  Koran  is  uncreated  and 
eternal ;  to  deny  this  is  rank  heresy.  And 
while  the  three  other  books  are  highly  spoken 
of  in  the  Koran,  they  now  exist,  Moslems  say, 
only  in  a  corrupted  form,  and  their  precepts 
have  been  abrogated  by  the  final  book  to  the 
last  prophet,  Mohammed. 

The  Koran  is  a  little  smaller  than  the  New  Koran 
Testament  in  extent;  it  has  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  chapters  bearing  fanciful  titles  bor- 
rowed from  some  word  or  phrase  in  the  chap- 
ter. The  book  has  no  chronological  order, 
logical  sequence,  or  rhetorical  climax.  Its 
jumbled  verses  throw  together  piecemeal,  fact 
and  fancy,  laws  and  legends,  prayers  and  im- 


18  MOSLEM  LANDS 

precations.  It  is  unintelligible  without  a  com- 
mentary, even  for  a  Moslem.  Moslems  regard 
it  as  supreme  in  beauty  of  style  and  language, 
and  miraculous  in  its  origin,  contents,  and  au- 
thority. From  the  Arab's  literary  standpoint  it 
is  indeed  a  remarkable  book.  Its  musical  jingk 
and  cadence  are  charming,  and,  at  times,  highly 
poetical  ideas  are  clothed  in  sublime  language. 

Here  are  two  typical  quotations  given  with 
the  Arabic  jingle  as  far  as  possible  :  — 

"  By  the  star  when  it  passeth  away,  your  countryman 
does  not  err,  nor  is  he  led  astray,  in  what  he  preaches; 
he  has  not  his  own  way,  but  a  revelation  he  does  say ; 
a  Mighty  One,  of  great  sway,  personally  appeared  to  him 
in  open  day,  where  there  rises  the  sun's  ray ;  high  in  the 
sky,  he  did  fly ;  then  he  drew  nigh  in  his  array,  and  only 
two  bows'  distance  from  him  he  did  stay,  that  the  reve- 
lations, which  he  had  to  say,  he  might  to  his  servant 
convey.  How  can  Mohammed's  heart  a  falsehood  state  ? 
Why  do  you  with  him  on  his  vision  debate  V  He  saw 
him  another  time,  in  the  same  state,  at  the  sidrah  tree 
of  the  limit  he  did  wait;  there  to  the  garden  of  repose  is 
the  gate;  and  whilst  the  tree  was  covered,  with  what  at 
the  top  of  it  hovered,  Mohammed  attentively  looked,  and 
his  eyes  from  the  sight  did  not  deviate ;  for  he  saw  the 
greatest  of  the  signs  of  his  Lord."  .  .  . 

"  I  swear  by  the  splendor  of  light 

And  by  the  silence  of  night 

That  the  Lord  shall  never  forsake  thee 

NOT  in  His  hatred  take  thee ; 

Truly  for  thee  shall  be  winning 

Better  than  all  beginning. 

Soon  shall  the  Lord  console  thee,  grief  no  longer  control 

thee, 

And  fear  no  longer  cajole  thee. 
Thou  wert  an  orphan-boy,  yet  the  Lord  found  room  for 

thy  head. 


ISLAM  19 

When  thy  feet  went  astray,  were  they  not  to  the  right 

path  led  ? 

Did  He  not  find  thee  poor,  yet  riches  around  thee  spread  ? 
Then  on  the  orphan-boy,  let  thy  proud  foot  never  tread, 
And  never  turn  away  the  beggar  who  asks  for  bread, 
But  of  the  Lord's  bounty  ever  let  praise  be  sung  and 

said." 

One  must  read  the  remarkable  book  in  the 
original  to  learn  to  admire  its  style.  Much  of 
its  teaching,  too,  is  remarkable.  But  the  Koran 
is  remarkable  most  of  all,  not  because  of  its 
contents,  but  for  its  omissions ;  not  because  of 
what  it  reveals,  but  for  what  it  conceals  of 
"former  revelations." 

The  defects  of  its  teaching  are  many:  (a)  it  Defects  of 
is  full  of  historical  errors  ;  (6)  it  contains  mon-  Koran 
strous  fables  ;  (<?)  it  is  full  of  superstitions  ; 
(d)  it  teaches  a  false  cosmogony;  (e)  it  per- 
petuates slavery,  polygamy,  divorce,  religious 
intolerance,  the  seclusion  and  degradation  of 
women ;  and  (/)  petrifies  social  life.  All  this, 
however,  is  of  minor  importance  compared  with 
the  fact  that  the  Koran  ever  keeps  the  supreme 
question  of  salvation  from  sin  in  the  back- 
ground and  offers  no  doctrine  of  redemption 
by  sacrifice.  In  this  respect  the  Koran  is  in- 
ferior to  the  sacred  books  of  Ancie-ut  Egypt, 
India,  and  China,  though  unlike  them  it  is 
monotheistic. 

(4)  The  Major  and  Minor  Prophets.  —  Mo- 
hammed is  related  to  have  said  that  there  were 
124,000  prophets  and  315  apostles.  Six  of  the 
latter  are  designated  by  special  titles,  and  are 
the  major  prophets  of  Islam.  They  are  as 


[UNIVERSITY 

OF  A 


20  MOSLEM  LANDS 

Prophets  follows  :  Adam  is  the  chosen  of  God  ;  Noah, 
the  preacher  of  God ;  Abraham,  the  friend  of 
God  ;  Moses,  the  spokesman  of  God  ;  Jesus, 
the  word  of  God ;  and  Mohammed,  the  apostle 
of  God.  In  addition  to  this  common  title, 
Mohammed  has  201  other  names  and  titles  of 
honor  by  which  he  is  known ! 

Only  twenty-two  others  —  minor  prophets  — 
are  mentioned  in  the  Koran  besides  these  six, 
although  the  host  of  prophets  is  so  large. 
They  are :  Idris,  Hud,  Salih,  Ishmael,  Isaac, 
Jacob,  Joseph,  Lot,  Aaron,  Shuaib,  Zacharias, 
John  the  Baptist,  David,  Solomon,  Elias,  Elijah, 
Job,  Jonah,  Ezra,  Lokman,  Zu'1-Kifl,  and  Zu'l 
Karnain. 

Some  of  these  are  easily  identified,  although 
the  names  seem  unfamiliar  in  form.  Others 
are  not  easily  identified  with  historical  person- 
ages even  by  the  Moslems  themselves.  Zu'l 
Karnain  signifies  "  the  One  of  the  two-horns," 
and  is  Alexander  the  Great.  The  account 
given  in  the  Koran  of  these  prophets  is  con- 
fused, yet  we  must  give  credit  to  some  Moslem 
commentators  for  doubting  whether  Lokman 
and  Alexander  were  really  prophets !  Moslems 
say  that  they  make  no  distinction  between  the 
prophets,  but  love  and  reverence  them  all. 
Mohammed,  however,  supersedes  all  and  sup- 
plants all  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  his  followers. 

Jesus  Christ  Jesus  Christ  is  always  spoken  of  with  respect, 
and  is  one  of  the  greater  prophets.  But  the 
idea  Moslems  have  of  Christ  is  after  all  a  very 
degrading  caricature  instead  of  a  true  portrait. 


ISLAM  21 

They  say  He  was  miraculously  born  of  the 
Virgin  Mary ;  performed  great,  and  also  puerile, 
miracles ;  was  an  apostle  of  God  strengthened 
by  Gabriel,  whom  they  call  the  Holy  Spirit; 
he  foretold  the  advent  of  Mohammed  as  Para- 
clete ;  the  Jews  intended  to  crucify  him,  but 
God  deceived  them,  and  Judas  was  slain  in  his 
stead.  He  is  now  in  one  of  the  inferior  stages 
of  celestial  bliss  ;  he  will  come  again  at  the  last 
day,  will  slay  Antichrist,  kill  all  swine,  break 
the  crosses  that  are  found  on  churches,  and 
remove  the  poll-tax  from  the  infidels.  He  will 
reign  justly  for  forty-five  years,  marry,  and 
have  children,  and  be  buried  in  a  grave  ready 
for  him  at  Medina,  next  to  Mohammed. 

Islam  denies  the  incarnation  and  the  atone-  NO  incarna- 
ment.     Therefore,  with  all  the  good  names  and  Sr°Il.ai?dno 

.  Mediator 

titles  it  gives  our  Saviour,  Islam  only  proves 
itself  the  Judas  Iscariot  among  false  religions 
by  betraying  the  Son  of  Man  with  a  kiss.  Mo- 
hammed has  usurped  Christ's  place  in  the  hearts 
and  lives  of  his  followers.  His  word  is  their 
law,  and  his  life  their  ideal.  Every  religion 
has  its  ideals,  and  seldom  rises  above  them.  All 
pious  Moslems  consider  their  prophet  as  the 
ideal  of  perfection  and  the  model  of  conduct. 
To  be  perfect  is  to  be  like  Mohammed.  The 
great  sin  and  guilt  of  the  Mohammedan  world 
is  that  it  gives  Christ's  glory  to  another.  All 
the  prophets  that  came  before  are  supplanted. 
In  the  Koran,  Mohammed  is  human ;  tradition 
has  made  him  sinless  and  almost  divine.  He  is 
called  Light  of  God,  Peace  of  the  World,  and 


22 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


First  of  all  Creatures.  What  history  calls  the 
faults  of  Mohammed's  character,  Moslems  con- 
sider his  perfections  or  privileges,  and  therefore 
the  Mohammed  of  sober  history  and  the  Mo- 
hammed who  has  all  the  halo  of  tradition  are 
two  different  persons.  Koelle's  life  of  Moham- 
med shows  this  very  plainly,  and  should  be  read 
by  all  who  want  to  know  why  Moslems  admire 
their  prophet.1 

Moham-  They  believe  he  now  dwells  in  the  highest 

med's  Place  heaven  an(j  js  several  degrees  above  Jesus,  our 
Saviour,  in  honor  and  station.  His  name  is 
never  uttered  or  written  without  the  addition 
of  a  prayer.  Yet  a  calm  and  critical  study  of 
his  life  proves  him  to  have  been  an  ambitious 
and  sensual  enthusiast,  who  did  not  scruple  to 
break  nearly  every  precept  of  the  moral  law  to 
further  his  ends.  (See  Muir,  Koelle,  Sprenger, 
and  Weil ;  but  also  the  earliest  Moslem  biog- 
raphy by  Ibn  Hisham.) 

(5)  The  Day  of  Judgment.  —  This  occupies  a 
large  place  in  the  Koran.  It  is  called  the  Day 
of  Resurrection,  of  Separation,  of  Reckoning,  or 
simply  the  Hour.  Most  graphic  and  terrible 
descriptions  portray  the  terror  of  that  day. 

1  As  an  example  of  the  thousand  fantastic  stories  related, 
take  this:  "If  the  prophet  put  his  hand  on  the  head  of  a 
child,  one  could  recognize  it  by  the  exquisite  perfume 
which  his  hand  had  imparted  to  it.  One  day  the  prophet 
was  sleeping  in  the  house  of  Annas,  and  he  was  perspiring. 
The  mother  of  Annas  collected  the  drops  of  perspiration ; 
and  when  the  prophet  asked  her  why  she  did  so,  she  said, 
4  We  put  this  into  our  smelling  bottles,  for  it  is  the  most 
refreshing  perfume.' " 


The 
Judgment 


ISLAM  23 

Moslems  believe  in  a  literal  resurrection  of  the 
body.  The  bone  called  os  sacrum,  they  say, 
does  not  decay  in  the  grave,  and  before  the 
resurrection  day  God  will  impregnate  it  by  a 
forty  days'  rain ! 

Moslems  believe  also  in  an  everlasting  life  of  Heaven 
physical  joys  or  physical  tortures.  The  Mos-  and  Hel1 
lem  paradise  in  the  words  of  the  Koran  is  a 
"garden  of  delight,  .  .  .  with  couches  and 
ewers  and  a  cup  of  flowing  wine  ;  their  brows 
ache  not  from  it  nor  fails  the  sense ;  theirs  shall 
be  the  Houris  .  .  .  ever  virgins."  What  com- 
mentators say  on  these  texts  is  often  unfit  for 
translation.  The  orthodox  interpretation  is 
literal,  and  so  was  that  of  Mohammed ;  because 
the  traditions  give  minute  particulars  of  the 
sanitary  laws  of  heaven,  as  well  as  of  its  sexual 
delights.  The  Moslem  hell  is  sevenfold,  and 
"each  portal  has  its  party."  All  the  wealth 
of  Arabic  vocabulary  is  exhausted  in  describ- 
ing the  terrors  of  the  lost,  and  Dante's  Inferno 
is  a  summer  garden  compared  with  the  Moslem 
hell.1 

(6)  Predestination.  —  This  last  article  is  the  Fatalism 
keystone  in  the  arch  of  Moslem  faith.  It  is  the 
only  philosophy  of  Islam,  and  the  most  fertile 
article  of  the  creed  in  its  effects  on  every-day 
life.  As  in  the  Christian  Church,  this  doctrine 
has  been  fiercely  discussed,  but  what  might  be 
called  ultra- Calvinism  has  carried  the  day. 

God  wills  both  good  and  evil;  there  isnoescap- 

!Read  Chapter  X  on  the  " Hell  of  Islam"  in  Stanley 
Lane  Poole's  u  Studies  in  a  Mosque." 


24  MOSLEM  LANDS 

ing  from  the  caprice  of  His  decree.  Religion  is 
Islam,  i.e.  resignation.  Fatalism  has  paralyzed 
progress  ;  hope  perishes  under  the  weight  of 
this  iron  bondage;  injustice  and  social  decay 
are  stoically  accepted;  no  man  bears  the  burden 
of  another;  and  the  deadening  influence  of  this 
fatalism  can  be  seen  and  felt  in  every  Moslem 
land.  One  of  their  own  poets  has  summed  it 
up  in  the  lines  which  we  might  call  their  Psalm 
of  Life  :  — 

"  'Tis  all  a  chequer-board  of  nights  and  days 
Where  Destiny  with  men  for  pieces  plays, 
Hither  and  thither  moves,  and  mates  and  slays, 
And  one  by  one  back  in  the  closet  lays." 

Every-day  Religion.  —  Such   a   creed   as   we 
have   briefly  given   in  outline   is   matched   by 
certain  practical  duties    which   every  Moslem, 
man  or  woman,  must  perform  to  show  faith  by 
The  Five        works.      These   practical   duties  are   five,  and 
Duties  constitute    the    ritual    or    every-day   religion. 

Mohammed  said:  "  A  Moslem  is  one  who  is  re- 
signed and  obedient  to  God's  will,  and  bears 
witness  that  there  is  no  god  but  God  and  that 
Mohammed  is  His  Apostle  ;  and  is  steadfast  in 
prayer,  and  gives  alms  and  fasts  in  the  month 
of  Ramazan,  and  makes  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca, 
if  he  have  the  means."  We  give  a  summary  of 
these  five  duties :  — 

(1)  The  Confession  of  the  Creed. — It  is  the 
shortest  creed  in  the  world,  has  been  oftener 
repeated,  and  is  so  brief  that  it  has  needed  no 
revision  for  thirteen  centuries.  It  is  taught  to 
infants  and  whispered  in  the  ears  of  the  dying. 


ISLAM  25 

Five  times  a  day  it   rings  out  as  the  call   to 

prayer  in  the  whole  Moslem  world  :  "  There  is  The  Creed 

no   god    but    God   and    Mohammed   is    God's 

Apostle."      On   every   occasion   this  creed    is 

repeated   by    the   believer.     It   is   the   key   to 

every  door  of  difficulty ;    one   hears   it  in  the 

bazaar  and  the  street  and  the  mosque ;    sailors 

sing  it  as  they  raise  their  sails  ;  hammals  groan 

it  to  raise  a  heavy  burden;  it  is  a  battle-cry 

and  a    cradle  song,  an  exclamation  of  delight 

and  a  funeral  dirge.     There  is  no  doubt  that 

this  continual,  public  repetition  of  a  creed  has 

been  a  source  of  strength  to  Islam  for  ages,  as 

well  as  a  stimulus  to  fanaticism. 

(2)  Prayer.  —  The  fact  that  Moslems  pray  Prayer 
often,  early,  and  earnestly  has  elicited  the  admi- 
ration of  many  travellers,  who,  ignorant  of  the 
real  character  and  content  of  Moslem  prayer, 
judge  it  from  a  Christian  standpoint.  What 
the  Bible  calls  prayer  and  what  the  Moslem 
means  by  the  same  name  are,  however,  to  a 
degree,  distinct  conceptions. 

A  necessary  preliminary  to  every  Moslem 
prayer  is  legal  purification.  Whole  books  have 
been  written  on  this  subject,  describing  the 
occasions,  method,  variety,  and  effect  of  ablu- 
tion by  water  or,  in  its  absence,  by  sand.  The 
ritual  of  purification  is  one  of  the  chief  shibbo- 
leths of  the  many  Moslem  sects.  In  Mohamme- 
dan works  of  theology  there  are  chapters  on 
the  proper  use  of  the  toothpick,  on  the  different 
kinds  of  water  allowed  for  ablution,  and  on  all 
the  varieties  of  uncleanness.  After  washing 


26  MOSLEM  LANDS 

various  parts  of  the  body  three  times  according 
to  fourteen  rules,  the  Moslem  is  ready  to  begin 
prayer. 

The  five  proper  times  for  prayer  are  at  dawn, 
just  after  high  noon,  two  hours  before  sunset, 
at  sunset,  and  again  two  hours  later.  It  is 
forbidden  to  say  morning  prayers  after  the  sun 

Posture  is  risen.  Posture  is  of  prime  importance,  and 
includes  facing  Mecca,  as  well  as  a  series  of 
prostrations  more  easily  imitated  than  de- 
scribed. 

The  words  repeated  during  this  physical  ex- 
ercise consist  of  Koran  phrases  and  short  chap- 
ters, which  include  praise,  confession,  and  a 
prayer  for  guidance.  Often  the  chapters  chosen 
have  no  connection  with  the  topic  of  prayer. 
Personal  private  petitions  are  allowed  after  the 
liturgical  prayers,  but  they  are  not  common. 
The  least  departure  from  the  rule  in  purifica- 
tion, posture,  or  method  of  prayer  nullifies  its 
effect,  and  the  worshipper  must  begin  all  over 
again.  Special  prayer  is  obligatory  at  an 
eclipse  of  the  sun  or  moon  and  on  the  two 
Moslem  festivals. 

Lent  (3)    The  Moslem  Lent.  —  The  chief  Moslem 

fast  is  that  of  the  month  of  Ramazan.  Yet  it 
is  a  fact  that  Mohammedans,  rich  and  poor, 
spend  more  on  food  in  that  month  than  in  any 
other  month  of  the  year ;  and  it  is  also  true  that 
physicians  have  a  run  of  patients  with  troubles 
from  indigestion  at  the  close  of  this  religious 
fast.  The  explanation  is  simple.  Although 
the  fast  extends  an  entire  lunar  month,  it  only 


ISLAM  27 

begins  at  dawn  and  ends  at  sunset  each  day. 
During  the  whole  night  it  is  usual  to  indulge 
in  pleasure,  feasting,  and  dinner  parties.  This 
makes  clear  what  Mohammed  meant  when  he 
said  that  "  God  would  make  the  fast  an  ease  and 
not  a  difficulty."  On  the  other  hand,  the  fast  is 
extremely  hard  upon  the  laboring  classes  when, 
by  the  changes  of  the  lunar  calendar,  it  falls  in 
the  heat  of  summer  when  the  days  are  long. 
Even  then  it  is  forbidden  to  drink  a  drop  of 
water  or  take  a  morsel  of  food. 

(4)  Legal  Alms.  —  Compulsory  alms  were  in  Alms 
the  early  days  of  Islam  collected  by  the  reli- 
gious  tax-gatherer,   as   they  still  are   in   some 
Mohammedan  countries.     Where  Moslems  are 
under  Christian  rule,  the  rate  is  paid  out  by 
each  Mohammedan  according  to  his  own  con- 
science.     The    rate    varies    greatly,    and    the 
different   sects   disagree   as   to   what   was  the 
practice  of  the  prophet.     Moreover,  it  is  difficult 

to  find  a  precedent  in  the  customs  of  pastoral 
Arabia  for  the  present  methods  of  acquiring 
and  holding  property  in  lands  touched  by  civ- 
ilization. One-fortieth  of  the  total  income  is 
about  the  usual  rate.  The  tithe  of  the  Old 
Testament  was  a  much  larger  portion  and 
was  supplemented  by  many  free-will  offerings. 
Charitable  offerings  are  also  common  in  Islam, 
but  generally  speaking,  the  Moslem  who  gives 
his  legal  alms  is  satisfied  that  he  has  fulfilled 
all  righteousness. 

(5)  The  Pilgrimage.  —  The   Pilgrimage    to  Pilgrimage 
Mecca   is  not  only  one  of   the   pillars  of  the 


28 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


religion  of  Islam,  but  it  has  proved  one  of  the 
strongest  bonds  of  union  and  has  always  exer- 
cised a  tremendous  influence  as  a  missionary 
agency.  Even  to-day  the  pilgrims  who  return 
from  Mecca  to  their  native  villages  in  Java, 
India,  and  West  Africa  are  fanatical  ambas- 
sadors of  the  greatness  and  glory  of  Islam. 
For  the  details  of  the  pilgrimage  one  must  read 
Burckhardt,  Burton,  or  other  travellers  who 
have  risked  their  lives  in  visiting  the  forbidden 
cities  of  Islam. 

Other  The  Mecca  pilgrimage  is  incumbent  on  every 

Pilgrimages  free  Moslem  who  is  of  age  and  has  sufficient 
means  for  the  journey.  Many  of  them,  unwill- 
ing to  undergo  the  hardships  of  the  journey, 
engage  a  substitute,  and  thus  purchase  the 
merit  for  themselves.  Most  Moslems  also  visit 
the  tomb  of  Mohammed  at  Medina  and  claim 
the  Prophet's  authority  for  this  added  merit. 
Pilgrimages  to  tombs  of  local  saints  and  the 
ancient  prophets,  to  "footprints"  of  the  Apostle, 
or  to  graves  of  his  companions  are  exceedingly 
common.  But  none  of  these  pilgrimages  equals 
in  merit  that  to  the  House  of  God  in  Mecca. 
Death  A  Mohammedan  Funeral.  —  The  nations  that 

are  without  Christ  are  without  hope.  At  no 
time  is  this  so  evident  as  in  the  hour  of  death. 
Christ  has  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light 
in  the  Gospel,  but,  as  Mrs.  Bishop  said,  in  Mos- 
lem lands  there  is  "  only  a  fearful  looking  for 
in  the  future  of  fiery  indignation  from  some 
quarter  they  know  not  what."  At  the  hour 
of  death  you  may  hear  the  same  hopeless  cry 


ISLAM  29 

of  the  Moslem  women,  whether  in  Morocco  or 
in  Persia ;  it  is  a  mourning  without  hope. 

One  does  not  live  long  in  an  Arab  town 
without  seeing  funerals  pass.  Even  at  mid- 
night you  can  often  hear  the  loud  wailing  for 
the  dead.  As  soon  as  a  person  dies  in  Arabia, 
he  is  washed  and  wrapped  in  a  white  shroud. 
The  funeral  takes  place  as  soon  as  possible  ; 
not  only  because  of  the  climate,  but  because 
they  believe  that  the  sooner  a  Moslem  is  buried 
the  sooner  he  will  reach  heaven.  The  body  is  Burial 
put  on  a  wooden  bier  which,  in  the  case  of  a 
man,  has  only  a  cloth  put  over  it ;  but  in  the 
case  of  a  woman  a  sort  of  arched  cradle  is 
placed  over  the  body  and  covered  with  a  cur- 
tain. Women  and  children  are  not  generally 
allowed  to  attend  a  funeral ;  and  if  they  do, 
they  follow  far  behind  and  must  not  approach 
the  grave  until  the  men  leave.  The  bier  is 
carried  from  the  house  on  the  men's  shoulders, 
and  instead  of  going  slowly,  they  run  fast  with 
it.  Every  passer-by  and  neighbor  tries  to  give 
a  lift,  as  they  think  such  an  act  meritorious; 
this  makes  the  funeral  procession  very  confused. 
On  the  way  to  the  grave  the  bearers  cry  out, 
"  There  is  no  god  but  God  and  Mohammed  is 
His  Apostle."  A  short  prayer  service  is  held 
in  a  neighboring  mosque  or  outside  of  the 
graveyard.  But  the  prayers  are  formal,  and 
scarcely  a  word  is  spoken  of  a  resurrection 
or  of  victory  over  death  —  nor  prayer  for  the 
mourning  ones.  All  is  dreary  and  comfortless. 

The  grave  is  dug  so  that  the  body,  lying  on 


30  MOSLEM  LANDS 

one  side,  shall  have  its  face  toward  Mecca,  or 
rather  toward  the  temple  in  Mecca.  A  niche 
is  dug  on  one  side  of  the  grave  for  the  body 
to  rest  in.  This  is  done  because  Mohammed 
taught  his  people  that  a  dead  person  was  con- 
scious of  pain,  and  therefore  great  precautions 
are  taken  to  prevent  pressure  on  the  body ! 

At  the  grave  the  Moslem  teacher  or  leader 
gives  instructions  in  a  loud  tone  of  voice  to 
the  dead  person,  putting  his  mouth  close  to  the 
ear  of  the  corpse.     These  instructions  are  to 
prepare  the  dead  for  the  visit  of  the  angels, 
Without        Munkar   and    Nakir,  already  mentioned.     All 
Hope  Arabs  believe   that    as   soon   as    the   grave  is 

covered  in  and  the  mourners  depart,  these  two 
black  angels  come  to  judge  the  dead.  They 
have  blue  eyes,  and  carry  an  iron  club.  If  the 
answers  given  to  their  questions  are  satis- 
factory, the  grave  expands,  and  the  dead  person 
is  told  to  sleep  on  until  the  resurrection.  But 
if  the  answers  are  doubtful  or  wrong,  the  angels 
proceed  to  pound  with  a  club,  and  the  dead 
person  roars  out.  All  Moslems  believe  these 
foolish  teachings,  and  they  say  that  animals  are 
often  frightened  away  from  the  tombs  by  the 
cries  of  the  wicked  dead. 

"Without  Christ,  without  hope."  Nowhere 
is  this  clearer  than  when  you  stand  in  a  Mos- 
lem graveyard,  and  how  many  millions  of  these 
Christless  graves  dot  the  landscape  in  many 
lands!  Around  Mecca  there  are  acres  upon 
acres  of  the  dead.  The  graveyards  in  Arabia 
are  generally  very  untidy ;  one  never  sees 


ISLAM  31 

plants  or  trees  or  flowers  in  them.  Only  the  Graves 
rich  have  gravestones ;  a  Bedouin  grave  is  on 
the  open  desert,  and  his  last  resting-place  is 
marked  by  a  camel's  rib  or  a  date-stick  stuck 
up  in  the  dry  sand.  And  every  Thursday  even- 
ing many  of  these  graveyards  of  the  Moslem 
world  present  a  picture  of  Moslem  womanhood 
come  to  mourn  their  dead :  — 

"  Sorrowful  women's  faces,  hungry  yearning 
Wild  with  despair,  or  dark  with  sin  and  dread ; 
Worn  with  long  weeping  for  the  unre turning 
Hopeless,  uncornforted. 

" *  Give  us/  they  cry,  '  your  cup  of  consolation 
Never  to  our  outstretching  hand  is  passed. 
We  long  for  the  Desire  of  every  nation, 
And  oh,  we  die  so  fast.' " 

AUTHOR'S  NOTE.  —  A  few  of  the  paragraphs  in  this  chap- 
ter were  adopted  from  my  summary  of  Mohammedanism 
in  "  Religions  of  Mission  Fields"  (Chapter  IX).  Student 
Volunteer  Movement,  1905. 

HELPS  FOR  LEADERS 
Lesson  Aim : 

To  give  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  Mohammedan  world 
and  show  the  strength  and  the  weakness  of  Islam  in  faith 
and  practice. 
Scripture  Lesson : 

Dan.  8  : 9-26  ;  Matt.  24  : 11 ;  Matt.  6  : 5-9. 
Suggestive  Questions : 

1.  Why  did  Islam  not  enter  Japan  ? 

2.  What  religions  did  Islam  meet  in  its  early  con- 
quests V 

3.  Give  a  picture  of  Arabian  home  life  in  the  Middle 
Ages  ("The  Arabian  Nights"). 

4.  How   do  the   requirements  of  prayer  and  fasting 
prove  that  Islam  cannot  be  a  universal  religion  ? 


32  MOSLEM  LANDS 

5.  Describe    Mohammedan  art   and   architecture  in 
Spain  and  in  India. 

6.  The  route,  purpose,  and  probable  effect  of  the  pro- 
posed railway  to  Mecca. 

7.  Was  Islam  a  blessing  to  pagan  Africa? 

8.  How  are  faith  and  works  related  in  the  Moslem 
system  ? 

9.  Which  articles  of  the  Apostle's  Creed  would  be  ac- 
cepted by  a  Moslem  ? 

10.  In  praying  for  the  Mohammedan  World,  what 
special  petitions  does  this  chapter  suggest? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  standard  Encyclopaedias,  art.  Mohammed  and  Mo- 
hammedanism. Also,  "  Arabia,  the  Cradle  of  Islam," 
for  a  bibliography  on  the  subject. 

The  Koran.     Translations  by  Sale,  Rod  well,  or  Palmer. 

"  The  Mohammedan  World  of  To-day."  Fleming  H. 
Revell  Co.  New  York,  1906. 

W.  St.  Clair  Tisdall,  "  The  Sources  of  the  Quran/' 
S.  P.  C.  K.  London,  1905. 

H.  H.  Jessup,  "  The  Mohammedan  Missionary  Prob- 
lem." Philadelphia,  1879. 

Hughes,  "Dictionary  of  Islam."    London,  1885. 

S.  M.  Zwemer,  "  The  Moslem  Doctrine  of  God."  Ameri- 
can Tract  Society,  1905. 

S.  M.  Zwemer,  "  Islam :  A  Challenge  to  Faith."  Stu- 
dent Volunteer  Movement,  1907. 

ILLUSTRATIVE  SELECTIONS 

The  Sword  of  Islam.  —  "  This  contempt  for  the  lives  of 
the  rebellious  or  vanquished  was  exemplified  over  and 
over  in  the  history  of  Islam  in  India.  The  slave  Emperor 
Balban  once  slew  forty  thousand  Mongols,  whom  he  sus- 
pected of  disloyalty,  notwithstanding  that  they  professed 
the  Moslem  religion.  Timur  (Tamerlane)  felt  encum- 
bered by  one  hundred  thousand  Hindu  prisoners,  taken 
at  the  capture  of  Delhi.  He  ordered  them  to  be  slain  in 


ISLAM  33 

cold  blood.  The  Bahmanid  Mohammed  I,  son  of  Hassan 
Gangu,  once  avenged  the  death  of  his  Moslem  garrison  at 
Mudkall,  by  the  slaughter  of  seventy  thousand  men, 
women,  and  children.  Such  were  the  deeds  of  the  prose- 
lyting sword,  which  was  unsheathed  against  the  unbe- 
lieving world  by  the  mandate  of  the  Prophet." 

—  WHERRY'S  "Islam  and  Christianity,"  p.  49. 

Moslem  Pride.  —  "  Personal  pride,  which  like  blood  in 
the  body,  runs  through  all  the  veins  of  the  mind  of  Mo- 
hammedanism, which  sets  the  soul  of  a  Sultan  in  the 
twisted  frame  of  a  beggar  at  a  street  corner,  is  not  cast  on3 
in  the  act  of  admiration.  These  Arabs  humbled  them- 
selves in  the  body.  Their  foreheads  touched  the  stones. 
By  their  attitudes  they  seemed  as  if  they  wished  to  make 
themselves  even  with  the  ground,  to  shrink  into  the 
space  occupied  by  a  grain  of  sand.  Yet  they  were  proud 
in  the  presence  of  Allah,  as  if  the  firmness  of  their  belief 
in  him  and  his  right  dealing,  the  fury  of  their  contempt 
and  hatred  for  those  who  looked  not  toward  Mecca 
nor  regarded  Ramadan,  gave  them  a  patent  of  nobility. 
Despite  their  genuflections,  they  were  all  as  men  who 
knew,  and  never  forgot,  that  on  them  was  conferred  the 
right  to  keep  on  their  head-covering  in  the  presence  of 
their  King.  With  unclosed  eyes  they  looked  God  full  in 
the  face.  Their  dull  and  growling  murmur  had  the 
majesty  of  thunder  rolling  through  the  sky." 

—  «  The  Garden  of  Allah,"  p.  153. 

The  Call  to  Prayer,  heard  from  minarets  five  times 
daily  in  all  Moslem  lands,  is  as  follows.  The  Muezzin 
cries  it  in  a  loud  voice,  and  always  in  the  Arabic  lan- 
guage :  "  God  is  most  great !  God  is  most  great !  God 
is  most  great !  God  is  most  great !  I  testify  that  there 
is  no  god  but  God  !  I  testify  that  there  is  no  god  but 
God  !  I  testify  that  Mohammed  is  the  Apostle  of  God  I 
Come  to  prayer !  Come  to  prayer  !  Come  to  prosperity ! 
Come  to  prosperity !  God  is  most  great  I  God  is  most 
great !  There  is  no  god  but  God."  In  the  call  to  early 
morning  prayer,  the  words,  "  Prayer  is  better  than  sleep," 
are  added  twice  after  the  call  to  prosperity.  (For  further 


34  MOSLEM  LANDS 

details  of  the  prayer-ritual,  see  Klein's  "  The  Religion  of 
Islam,"  pp.  120-156.) 

The  Five  Pillars  of  Practice.  —  "  The  five  pillars  of  the 
Mohammedan  faith  are  all  broken  reeds  by  the  solemn 
test  of  age-long  experience ;  because  their  creed  is  only  a 
half  truth,  and  its  'pure  monotheism*  does  not  satisfy 
the  soul's  need  of  a  mediator,  and  an  atonement  for  sin. 
Their  prayers  are  formal  and  vain  repetitions,  without  de- 
manding or  producing  holiness  in  the  one  that  uses  them. 
Their  fasting  is  productive  of  two  distinct  evils  wherever 
observed :  it  manufactures  an  unlimited  number  of  hypo- 
crites who  profess  to  keep  the  fast  and  do  not  do  so,  and 
in  the  second  place  the  reaction  which  occurs  at  sunset 
of  every  night  of  Ramadan  tends  to  produce  revelling 
and  dissipation  of  the  lowest  and  most  degrading  type. 
Their  almsgiving  stimulates  indolence,  and  has  produced 
that  acme  of  social  parasites  —  the  dervish  or  fakir. 
Finally,  their  pilgrimages  to  Mecca  and  Medina  and  Ker- 
bela  are  a  public  scandal  even  to  Moslem  morality,  so 
that  the  holy  cities  are  hotbeds  of  vice  and  plague-spots 
in  the  body  politic." 

—  Missionary  Review  of  the  World,  October,  1898. 

The  Moslem  Paradise.  —  According  to  Al-Ghazali 
(4 : 337)  Mohammed  said,  "  The  believer  in  Paradise  will 
marry  five  hundred  houris,  four  thousand  virgins,  and 
eight  thousand  divorced  women."  Al-Ghazali  (A.H.  450) 
is  one  of  the  greatest  theologians  of  Islam,  and  no  ortho- 
dox Moslem  would  dispute  his  statement.  In  this  very 
connection  Ghazali  quotes  the  words,  "  things  which  the 
eye  saw  not,  and  which  did  not  enter  into  the  heart  of 
man  1 "  —  Ghazali  4 : 338. 


"  When  travelling  in  Asia  it  struck  me  how  very  little 
we  had  heard,  how  little  we  know  as  to  how  sin  is  en- 
throned and  deified  and  worshipped.  There  is  sin  and 
shame  everywhere.  Mohammedanism  is  corrupt  to  the 
very  core.  The  morals  of  Mohammedan  countries  are  cor- 
rupt and  the  imagination  very  wicked.  .  .  .  These  false 
faiths  degrade  women  with  an  infinite  degradation.  The 
intellect  is  dwarfed,  while  all  the  worst  passions  of  hu- 
man nature  are  stimulated  and  developed  in  a  fearful 
degree  ;  jealousy,  envy,  murderous  hate,  intrigue  running 
to  such  an  extent  that  in  some  countries  I  have  hardly 
ever  been  in  a  woman's  house,  or  near  a  woman's  tent 
without  being  asked  for  drugs  with  which  to  disfigure 
the  favorite  wrife,  to  take  away  her  life,  or  to  take  away 
the  life  of  the  favorite  wife's  infant  son.  This  request 
has  been  made  to  me  nearly  two  hundred  times.  .  .  . 
It  follows  necessarily  that  there  is  also  an  infinite  degra- 
dation of  men.  The  whole  continent  of  Asia  is  corrupt. 
It  is  the  scene  of  barbarities,  tortures,  brutal  punish- 
ments, oppression,  official  corruption  (which  is  the  worst 
under  Mohammedan  rule) ;  of  all  things  which  are  the 
natural  products  of  systems  without  God  in  Christ. 
There  are  no  sanctities  of  home ;  nothing  to  tell  of 
righteousness,  temperance,  and  judgment  to  come,  only 
a  fearful  looking  for  in  the  future  of  fiery  indignation 
from  some  quarter,  they  know  not  what." 

—  MRS.  ISABELLA  BIRD  BISHOP. 


86 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   SOCIAL   EVILS   OF    ISLAM 

Why  Missions  to  Moslems?  —  Two  views  have  Why 
been  widely  prevalent  and  held  for  a  long  Missions? 
time  regarding  missions  to  Mohammedans. 
Although  diametrically  opposed,  they  agree  that 
it  is  waste  of  time  and  effort  to  carry  the 
Gospel  to  Moslems.  The  one  view  is  that  the 
work  is  impossible  ;  the  other  that  it  is  un- 
necessary. The  one  holds  that  Islam  is  too 
hopeless  to  be  meddled  with  ;  the  other  that 
Islam  is  so  hopeful  that  it  does  not  need 
our  help,  but  will  work  out  its  own  salvation. 
The  one  considers  the  Moslem  so  utterly  un- 
approachable that  it  is  useless  to  go  to  him  ; 
the  other  says  it  is  needless  to  go  because 
the  Moslem  himself  is  approaching  to  Christ 
through  Mohammed.  The  former  view  treats 
Islam,  as  the  foe  of  Christianity,  with  the 
hatred  of  neglect ;  the  latter,  considering  "  Is- 
lam the  handmaid  of  Christianity,"  welcomes 
her  cooperation  for  the  redemption  of  Africa 
from  the  evils  of  paganism,  an  opinion  voiced 
by  Canon  Taylor,  Doctor  Ely  den,  and  others.1 

1  Ely  den,  "  Christianity,  Islam  and  the  Negro  Race," 
London,  1888.  Ameer  All,  "  The  Spirit  of  Islam,"  Cal- 
cutta, 1902. 

37 


38  MOSLEM  LANDS 

This  chapter  is  intended  to  prove  that  the 
latter  view  is  surely  at  fault  and  that  Moslem 
lands  and  Moslem  peoples  sorely  need  the  Gos- 
pel. The  next  chapter  will  show  that  the 
Gospel  is  not  impotent  over  against  Islam,  but 
victorious  wherever  it  has  entered. 

Testimony  Mrs.  Isabella  Bird  Bishop,  who  travelled  with 
of  Mrs.  opened  eyes  through  many  Moslem  lands,  wrote 
from  Kirmanshah,  Persia  :  "  I  have  learned 
two  things ;  one  I  have  been  learning  for 
nine  months  past,  —  the  utter  error  of  Canon 
Taylor's  estimate  of  Islam.  I  think  it  has  the 
most  blighting,  withering,  degrading  influence 
of  any  of  the  false  creeds."1  And  when  she 
visited  Morocco  there  was  no  doubt  in  her 
mind  about  Islam  being  "  a  handmaid  of  Chris- 
tianity." "It  is  at  once  the  curse  of  Morocco, 
and  the  most  formidable  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  progress,  chaining  all  thought  in  the  fetters 
of  the  seventh  century,  steeping  its  votaries  in 
the  most  intolerant  bigotry  and  the  narrowest 
conceit,  and  encouraging  fanaticism  which  re- 
gards with  approval  the  delirious  excesses  of 
the  Aissawa  and  the  Hamdusha."2 

The  present  social  and  moral  condition  of 
Mohammedan  lands  and  of  Moslems  as  a  class 
in  all  lands  is  not  such  as  it  is  in  spite  of,  but 
because  of,  their  religion.  The  evils  are  in- 
herent in  it.  The  law  of  cause  and  effect 
has  operated  for  over  a  thousand  years  under 
every  possible  physical  and  ethnic  environ- 

1  "Life  of  Isabella  Bird  Bishop,"  p.  221. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  365. 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS  OF  ISLAM  39 

ment,  among  Semites,  Aryan  races,  Negroes, 
and  Slavs.  The  results,  are  so  sadly  similar 
that  they  form  a  terrible  and  unanswerable 
indictment  of  the  social  and  moral  weakness  Morals 
of  Islam.  "  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know 
them,"  and  the  fruit  always  depends  upon  the 
root. 

Low  Ideals  of  Conduct  and  Character.  —  The  The  ideal  of 
measure  of  the  moral  stature  of  Mohammed  is  Character 
the  root  and  foundation  of  all  moral  ideals  in 
Islam.  His  conduct  is  the  standard  of  charac- 
ter. We  need  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  that 
the  ethical  standard  is  so  low.  Raymund  Lull, 
the  first  missionary  to  Moslems,  used  to  show 
in  his  bold  preaching  that  Mohammed  had  none 
of  the  seven  cardinal  virtues,  and  was  guilty  of 
the  seven  deadly  sins.  He  may  have  gone  too 
far.  But  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  show  that 
pride,  lust,  envy,  and  anger  were  prominent 
traits  in  the  prophet's  character. 

To  read  the  story  of  Mohammed's  life  as 
given  by  Muir,  Sprenger,  or  Weil  is  convincing 
enough. 

The  three  fundamental  concepts  of  Christian  Ethics 
ethics  are  all  of  them  challenged  by  the  teach- 
ing of  Islam.  The  Mohammedan  idea  of  the 
Highest  Good,  of  Virtue,  and  of  the  Moral 
Law  are  not  in  accord  with  those  of  Chris- 
tianity. "  The  highest  good  is  the  very  out- 
wardly and  very  sensuously  conceived  happiness 
of  the  individual."  Ideal  virtue  is  to  be  found 
through  imitation  of  Mohammed.  And  the 
moral  law  is  practically  abrogated  because  of 


40 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Ceremonial 
Law 


Untruthful- 
iiess 


loose  views  as  to  its  real  character  and  teach- 
ing and  finality. 

There  is  no  distinction  between  the  cere- 
monial and  the  moral  law  even  implied  in  the 
Koran.  It  is  as  great  an  offence  to  pray  with 
unwashen  hands  as  to  tell  a  lie,  and  "  pious " 
Moslems  who  nightly  break  the  seventh  com- 
mandment (according  to  their  own  lax  inter- 
pretation of  it)  will  shrink  from  a  tin  of 
foreign  meat  for  fear  they  be  defiled  by  eating 
swine's  flesh.  The  lack  of  all  distinction  be- 
tween the  ceremonial  and  the  moral  law  is  very 
evident  in  many  traditional  sayings  of  Moham- 
med, which  are  of  course  at  the  basis  of  ethics. 
Take  one  example  :  "  The  Prophet,  upon  whom 
be  prayers  and  peace,  said  4  One  dirhem  of 
usury  which  a  man  takes,  knowing  it  to  be  so, 
is  more  grievous  than  thirty-six  fornications, 
and  whosoever  has  done  so  is  worthy  of  hell- 
fire.'" 

Dr.  Dennis  sums  up  the  real  character  of 
Moslem  ethics  as  an  "adoption  of  religious 
ideas  and  social  customs  which  are  saturated 
with  error,  loathsome  with  immorality  and 
injustice,  antagonistic  to  both  natural  and  re- 
vealed ethics  and  stale  with  the  provincialism 
of  the  desert."  In  enumerating  the  social  evils 
which  are  the  dead-rot  of  Moslem  society,  we 
begin  with  that  which  saps  the  very  roots  of 
character,  —  untruthf  ulness. 

Untruthfulness. — One  of  the  ninety-nine  names 
of  God  in  the  Koran  is  that  of  M  Hak,  The 
Truth,  but  of  the  absolute  inviolability  of  truth 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS   OF  ISLAM  41 

in  the  Deity  or  in  ethics  the  Moslem  mind  has 
no  conception.  To  begin  with,  there  is  the 
teaching  of  orthodox  Islam  that  nothing  is 
right  or  wrong  by  nature,  but  becomes  such 
by  the  fiat  of  the  Almighty. 

What  Allah  or  His  Prophet  forbids  is  sin,  even 
should  He  forbid  what  seems  right  to  the  con- 
science. What  Allah  allows  is  not  sin  and  can- 
not be  sin  at  the  time  He  allows  it,  though  it  may 
have  been  before  or  after.  One  has  only  to 
argue  the  matter  of  polygamy  with  an  intelli- 
gent Moslem  to  have  the  above  confirmed. 

According  to  Moslem  tradition,  there  are  two 
authenticated  sayings  of  Mohammed  on  the 
subject  of  lying  :  "  When  a  servant  of  God 
tells  a  lie,  his  guardian  angels  move  away  to 
the  distance  of  a  mile,  because  of  the  badness  of 
its  smell."  That  seems  a  characteristic  denun- 
ciation, but  the  other  saying  contradicts  it : 
"Verily  a  lie  is  allowable  in  three  cases,  —  to  When  a  Lie" 
women,  to  reconcile  friends,  and  in  war"  (El  is  Allowable, 
Hidayah,  Vol.  IV,  p.  81).  And  the  great  theo- 
logian of  Islam,  Abu  Hanifa,  alleges  that  if  a 
man  should  swear  "  by  the  truth  of  God,"  this 
does  not  constitute  an  oath  !  while  the  whole 
subject  of  oaths  and  vows  in  Moslem  theology 
exhibits  the  crookedness  of  their  moral  legerde- 
main in  dealing  with  truth. 

"  The  dastardly  assassination,"  says  Muir,  "  of 
his  political  and  religious  opponents,  counte- 
nanced and  frequently  directed  as  it  was  in  all 
its  cruel  and  perfidious  details  by  Mohammed 
himself,  leaves  a  dark  and  indelible  blot  upon 


42  MOSLEM  LANDS 

his  character."  With  such  a  Prophet  it  is  no 
wonder  that  among  his  followers  and  imitators 
"  truth-telling  is  one  of  the  lost  arts,"  and  that 
perjury  is  too  common  to  be  noticed.  Since 
Mohammed  gathered  ideas  and  stories  from  the 
Jews  of  Medina  and  palmed  them  off  as  a  new 
revelation  from  God,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
Arabian  literature  teems  with  all  sorts  of  pla- 
giarisms, or  that  one  of  the  early  authorities  of 
Islam  laid  down  the  canon  that  it  is  justifiable 
to  lie  in  praise  of  the  Prophet.  Dr.  St.  Clair 
Tisdall  says  in  regard  to  the  Mohammedans  of 
Persia,  "  Lying  has  been  elevated  to  the  dignity 
of  a  fine  art  owing  to  the  doctrine  of  Kitman- 
ud-din  which  is  held  by  the  Shi  ah  religious 
community."1 

This  doctrine,  held  by  nearly  ten  million 
Moslems  of  the  Shiah  sect,  only  adds  one  more 
loophole  for  lies  to  those  Mohammed  made,  and 
permits  a  lie  "to  conceal  one's  true  religion." 

What  the  standard  of  truth  is  among  the 
Moslems  of  the  Dark  Continent,  we  know  from 
the  testimony  of  David  Livingstone :  — 

Living-  "  The  men  sent  by  Dr.  Kirk  are  Mohammedans,  that 

stone's  is,  unmitigated  liars.     Musa  and  his  companions  are  fair 

Testimony,  specimens  of  the  lower  class  of  Moslems.  The  two  head- 
men remained  at  Ujiji,  to  feast  on  my  goods,  and  get  pay 
without  work.  Seven  came  to  Bambarra,  and  in  true 
Moslem  style  swore  that  they  were  sent  by  Dr.  Kirk  to 
bring  me  back,  not  to  go  with  me,  if  the  country  were  bad 
or  dangerous.  Forward  they  would  not  go.  I  read  Dr. 
Kirk's  words  to  them  to  follow  wheresoever  I  led.  '  No, 
by  the  old  liar  Mohammed,  they  were  to  force  me  back  to 

1  "  The  Mohammedan  World  of  To-day,"  p.  117. 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS  OF  ISLAM  43 

Zanzibar.'  After  a  superabundance  of  falsehood,  it  turned 
out  that  it  all  meant  only  an  advance  of  pay,  though  they 
had  double  the  Zanzibar  wages.  I  gave  it,  but  had  to 
threaten  on  the  word  of  an  Englishman  to  shoot  the  ring- 
leaders before  I  got  them  to  go.  They  all  speak  of  Eng- 
lish as  men  who  do  not  lie.  ...  I  have  travelled  more  than 
most  people,  and  with  all  sorts  of  followers.  The  Chris- 
tians of  Kuruman  and  Kolobeng  were  out  of  sight  the 
best  I  ever  had.  The  Makololo,  who  were  very  partially 
Christianized,  were  next  best  —  honest,  truthful,  and 
brave.  Heathen  Africans  are  much  superior  to  the 
Mohammedans,  who  are  the  most  worthless  one  can 
have."  x 

What  was  true  of  the  Moslems  Livingstone 
met,  seems  to  be  the  case  almost  universally  in 
Moslem  lands.  In  Syria,  we  are  told,  it  was  Syria 
rare  to  find  a  Moslem  who  could  be  believed 
under  oath,  and  perjury  is  too  common  to  be 
noticed.2  To  be  called  a  liar  in  the  Levant  is 
considered  a  very  mild  insult.  Lord  Curzon, 
in  his  authoritative  book  on  Persia,  remarks,  "  I 
am  convinced  that  the  true  son  of  Iran  would 
sooner  lie  than  tell  the  truth,  and  that  he 
feels  twinges  of  desperate  remorse  when  upon 
occasions  he  has  thoughtlessly  strayed  into 
veracity." 

In  Turkey  and  Egypt  the  whole  routine  of 
daily  life  is  filled  with  dishonesty  and  double- 
dealing;  while  among  the  Arabs,  oaths  are 
divided  into  two  classes  :  those  which  one  may 
use  in  asserting  a  lie  without  fear  of  perjury, 
and  those  which  are  sacred  to  affirm  the  truth. 

1  Quoted  from  his  journals  in  "  Christus  Liberator,"  p.  60. 

2  H.  H.  Jessup,   "  The  Mohammedan  Missionary  Prob- 
lem," p.  50. 


44 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


immorality  Immorality.  —  On  this  topic  it  is  not  possible 
to  speak  plainly  nor  to  be  wholly  silent.  One 
must  live  among  Moslems  to  see  the  blasting 
and  corrupting  influence  of  an  immoral  religion 
on  its  followers.  "  He  that  soweth  to  the  flesh 
shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption." 

Moslems  have  changed  the  truth  of  God  in 
their  consciences  for  a  lie,  and  for  this  cause 
they -are  given  up  to  vile  affections  from  the 
day  their  Prophet  married  Zainab  until  now. 
Many  of  the  masses  are  past  feeling,  and  "  have 
given  themselves  over  unto  lasciviousness  to 
work  all  uncleanness  with  greediness."  In 
consequence,  the  majority  seem  to  have  "  con- 
sciences seared  with  a  hot  iron  "  and  minds  too 
full  of  the  sensual  to  admit  of  a  spiritual  con- 
ception. There  is  no  mental  soporific  like  the 
Koran,  and  there  is  nothing  so  well  designed 
to  hush  all  heart-questioning  as  a  religion  that 
denies  the  need  of  an  atonement.  There  is  no 
spiritual  aspiration  even  for  the  Moslem,  who 
longs  for  heaven,  because  even  there  he  can 
only  picture  the  "  houris  "  of  paradise  and  the 
goblets  of  wine  and  rivers  of  milk.  "To  be 
carnally -minded  is  death."  Islam  proves  it  by 
the  effect  of  its  teaching  on  the  lives  of  Mos- 
lems. 

Literature  The  sensuality  of  Islam  is  as  deeply  carved  in 
the  Mohammedan  literature  as  the  immorality 
of  Hinduism  is  carved  on  their  idol-temples. 
Both  are  too  deeply  cut  into  the  symbols  of 
their  religion  to  be  removed  without  destroy- 
ing it.  The  Koran,  the  commentaries,  the 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS   OF  ISLAM  45 

traditions,  Moslem  theology,  and  the  entire 
range  of  Arabic  literature,  as  written  by  and 
for  Moslems,  contain  passages  and  whole  sec- 
tions that  are  untranslatable. 

And  this  kind  of  fireside  literature  breeds 
a  coarse  vocabulary  and  corrupt  conversation 
among  men,  women,  and  children,  to  a  degree 
that  is  incredible.  The  very  strongholds  of 
religion  are  strongholds  of  immorality  in  the 
Moslem  world.  Mecca,  Kerbela,  and  Meshed 
Ali  are  examples  of  "  holy  cities "  without  Holy  Cities 
morality.  "  The  Meccans,"  writes  Burton 
(the  man  who  did  not  shrink  from  the  unex- 
purgated  "Arabian  Nights"),  "appeared  to  me 
distinguished  even  in  this  foul-mouthed  East 
by  the  superior  licentiousness  of  their  lan- 
guage."1 

One  who  has  been  a  missionary  for  years 
in  India  testified:  "However  the  phenomenon 
may  be  accounted  for,  we,  after  mixing  with 
Hindus  and  Mohammedans  for  nineteen  years, 
have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  latter  are, 
as  a  whole,  some  degrees  lower  in  the  social  and 
moral  scale  than  the  former."2 

Polygamy  has  not  diminished  licentiousness  Polygamy 
in  any  Moslem  land,  but  everywhere  increased 
it.      "  Immorality   among   African  Mohamme- 
dans is  commonly  indescribable.      It  is  worse 
among  the  Arabs  of  the  intensely  Mohammedan 

1Cf.  "The  Mohammedan  World  of  To-day, "  pp.  117, 
139-141. 

2  The  Rev.  J.  Vaughan  in  Dr.  Jessup's  "  Mohammedan 
Missionary  Problem,"  p.  47. 


46  MOSLEM  LANDS 

countries  to  the  north  than  it  is  among  the 
Negro  races  to  the  south." 1 

The  Seclusion  and  Degradation  of  Women. — 
The  origin  of  the  veil  in  Islam  and  the  conse- 
quent seclusion  of  women  was  one  of  the 
marriage  affairs  of  Mohammed  himself  with 
its  appropriate  revelation  from  Allah.  In  the 
twenty-fourth  Surah  of  the  Koran  women  are 
The  Veil  forbidden  to  appear  unveiled  before  any  member 
of  the  other  sex  with  the  exception  of  near 
relatives.  And  so  by  one  verse  the  bright, 
refining,  elevating  influence  of  womanhood  was 
forever  withdrawn  from  Moslem  society. 

The  evils  of  the  harem,  the  seraglio,  the 
purdah,  or  the  zenana,  by  whatever  name  it  is 
called,  are  writ  large  over  all  the  social  life  of 
the  Moslem  world.  And  Moslems  enlightened 
by  the  torch  of  Christian  civilization  are  them- 
selves beginning  to  see  the  fact.  At  a  Moham- 
medan conference  held  in  Bombay,  in  1904,  Mr. 
Justice  Telang  spoke  of  the  evils  of  the  purdah 
system,  and  named  it  as  the  chief  cause  for  the 
backwardness  of  the  Moslem  community. 

After  showing  that  the  religious  aspect  of 
the  question  was  a  delicate  one  for  Moslems  to 
discuss,  he  remarked :  — 

"  As  to  the  social  aspect  of  the  question,  we  have  been 
so  accustomed  to  it  from  our  infancy,  we  have  seen  it 
prevail  more  or  less  amongst  all  the  Mussulman  coun- 
tries of  the  world,  and,  therefore,  we  are  naturally 
prejudiced  in  its  favour,  and  strongly  prejudiced  against 
any  modification  of  its  rigour.  Being  so  prejudiced,  we 

i  "  The  Mohammedan  World  of  To-day,"  p.  284. 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS  OF  ISLAM  47 

magnify  and  exaggerate  whatever  advantages  or  benefits 
there  may  be  in  it,  and  we  strongly  close  our  eyes  to  the 
advantages  of  its  abolition. 

"  Whether  purdah  is  good  or  bad  from  a  social  point  Moslem 
of  view,  whether  it  is  or  is  not  entirely  in  accordance  with  Testimony 
the  religious  doctrines  as  interpreted  by  some  people,  may 
be  a  question,  but  there  can  be  none,  I  think,  as  to  the 
effect  of  the  purdah  system  on  the  health  and  physique 
of  our  women.  Gentlemen,  if  there  is  one  thing  more 
clear  than  another  in  science  it  is  that  the  human  consti- 
tution requires  pure  air  and  healthy  exercise.  How  are 
these  possible  if  the  present  system  of  purdah  is  main- 
tained ?  How  and  where  are  our  women  to  get  pure  air? 
How  and  where  are  they  to  get  healthy  exercise  ?  And 
consider  the  fact  of  the  absence  of  pure  air  and  the  absence 
of  exercise  on  the  constitutions  of  our  women.  Compare 
their  constitutions  with  the  constitutions  of  the  women  of 
other  communities  who,  untrammelled  by  the  purdah,  go 
into  the  open  and  move  freely  and  give  exercise  to  the 
various  parts  of  their  body.  Compare  the  health  of 
our  women  with  the  health  of  the  women  of  other 
classes. 

"  Look  at  the  statistics,  consider  the  vast  proportion  of 
our  women  who  die  from  consumption  due  to  confinement 
in  the  house,  impure  air,  and  want  of  exercise.  Gentle- 
men, we  cannot  ever  hope  to  have  healthy,  strong,  and 
vigorous  women  among  us  so  long  as  we  confine  them  in 
the  way  we  have  done  for  years  and  years ;  and  we  can- 
not hope  to  have  strong,  healthy,  and  vigorous  children 
so  long  as  our  women  are  weak  and  unhealthy  and  of 
delicate  constitutions." 

And  the  learned  barrister  would  have 
strengthened  his  argument,  had  he  spoken  of 
the  effect  of  this  loss  of  God's  sunlight  and 
God-given  liberty  on  the  moral  health  of  Mos- 
lem women,  and  of  the  impure  air  that  is  the 
only  breath  for  their  souls  in  the  Moslem 
zenana. 


48  MOSLEM  LANDS 

Position  of  As  regards  the  position  of  women  in  Islam 
Women  to-day,  a  perusal  of  the  unimpeachable  evidence 
found  in  the  recent  symposium,  "  Our  Moslem 
Sisters,"  will  make  the  most  callous-hearted 
hear  a  cry  of  distress  from  these  lands  of  dark- 
ness that  appeals  for  help.  In  nearly  every 
Moslem  land  woman  is  held  to  be  "  a  scandal 
and  a  slave,  a  drudge  and  a  disgrace,  a  temp- 
tation and  a  terror,  a  blemish  and  a  burden." 
And  this  is  shown  "  by  the  estimate  put  upon 
her,  by  the  opportunity  given  her,  by  the  func- 
tion assigned  her,  by  the  privilege  accorded  her 
and  by  the  service  expected  of  her."  l 

We  need  not  go  for  testimony  outside  of  the 
Koran  and  the  Moslem  theology.  Al-Ghazali 
sums  up  the  question  of  women's  rights  in 
Islam  when  he  says,  "  Marriage  is  a  kind  of 
slavery,  for  the  wife  becomes  the  slave  of  her 
husband,  and  it  is  her  duty  absolutely  to  obey 
him  in  everything  he  requires  of  her  except  in 
what  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  Islam."  Wife- 
beating  is  allowed  by  the  Koran,  and  even  the 
method  and  limitations  are  explained  by  the 
law  of  ethics.2 

Polygamy  and  Divorce.  —  A  Moslem  who 
lives  up  to  his  privileges  and  who  follows  the 
example  of  "  the  saints  "  in  his  calendar  can 
have  four  wives  and  any  number  of  slave-con- 
cubines; can  divorce  at  his  pleasure;  hecanre- 

1  Dennis,    "  Christian    Missions    and    Social   Progress," 
Vol.  I,  p.  104. 

2  See  Klein,  "The  Keligion  of  Islam,"  p.  190,  and  Mos- 
lem Commentaries  on  Surah  4 :  38. 


THE  SOCIAL   EVILS   OF  ISLAM  49 

marry  his  divorced  wives  by  a  special  abominable 
arrangement  ;  and  in  addition  to  all  this,  if  he 
belong  to  the  heterodox  Shiah  sect,  he  can  con- 
tract marriages  for  pleasure  (Metaa)  which  are 
temporary.1 

"  The  very  chapter  in  the  Mohammedan  Bible 
which  deals  with  the  legal  status  of  woman, 
and  which  provides  that  every  Mohammedan 
may  have  four  legal  wives,  and  as  many  con- 
cubines or  slave  girls  as  his  right  hand  can 
hold,"  says  Robert  E.  Speer,  "  goes  by  the  title 
in  the  Koran  itself  of  'The  Cow.'  One  could  Degradation 
get  no  better  title  to  describe  the  status  of 
woman  throughout  the  non-Christian  world." 

This  trampling  the  honor  of  womanhood  is 
only  one  of  the  evil  results.  A  system  that 
puts  God's  sanction  on  polygamy,  concubinage, 
and  unlimited  divorce,  —  that  hellish  trinity, 
brings  a  curse  on  every  home  in  the  Moham- 
medan world  by  degrading  manhood.  But, 
alas,  these  social  and  domestic  evils  cannot  be 

1  "  As  to  the  degradation  of  women,  one  does  not  know 
where  to  begin.  You  have  heard  a  little  about  it ;  but  the 
most  horrible  thing  I  have  ever  known  is  the  system  of  tem- 
porary marriages  practised  in  the  valley  of  the  Tarirn,  espe- 
cially in  Kashgar.  The  Russian  Consul  told  me  that  during 
the  five  years  he  had  lived  there,  he  had  known  many  girls 
to  have  twenty  husbands  before  they  were  twelve  years  oldl 
Temporary  marriages  are  sanctioned  for  a  week.  I  am  not 
sure  whether  they  are  not  for  a  day,  and  it  is  common  for 
men  there  to  change  their  wives  five  or  six  times  a  year  ; 
and  that,  be  it  observed,  is  in  a  place  where  Mohammedan- 
ism has  had  full  sway  for  a  great  many  years,  and  where,  if 
the  system  were  good,  it  ought  certainly  by  this  time  to  have 
shown  itself."  —  DR.  HENRY  LANDSELL,  M.R.A.S. 


50  MOSLEM  LANDS 

rebuked  or  deplored  by  better-class  Moham- 
medans without  reflecting  on  the  career  of 
Mohammed  and  without  contradicting  the  re- 
vealed word  of  God  and  the  consensus  of  the 
theologians  of  Islam. 

Moham-  The   Prophet   in   this   respect,  also,   was  to 

med's  Moslems  the  paragon  of  perfection.     Although 

when  Khadijah  died  he  found  his  own  lax  law 
insufficient  to  restrain  his  lusts,  and  indulged 
in  at  least  ten  additional  marriages,  it  is  not 
put  down  as  a  disgrace,  but  as  a  "dignity  in 
the  biographies  of  God's  Apostle.  No  wonder 
that  some  of  his  followers  have  aspired  to  a 
like  privilege.  Among  the  Nomad  chiefs  of 
Arabia  polygamy  is  the  invariable  rule.  One 
Sheikh  in  North  Arabia  has  more  than  forty 
wives  and  concubines  and  does  not  know  many 
of  his  own  children. 

In  Baluchistan  concubinage  is  so  common 
that  a  missionary  says  he  knows  "  several 
chiefs  who  have  thirty,  forty,  fifty,  and  sixty 
women."  Still  darker  shadows  fall  on  the 
picture  of  the  life  of  our  Moslem  sisters  in  that 
part  of  the  world,  if  we  open  the  government 
of  India  census  report:  — 

"  Owing  to  the  system  of  buying  wives,  in  vogue  among 
Afghans,  a  girl  as  soon  as  she  reaches  nubile  age  is,  for 
all  practical  purposes,  put  up  for  auction  and  sold  to  the 
highest  bidder.  Her  father  discourses  in  the  market  on 
her  beauty  or  ability  as  a  housekeeper,  and  invites  offers 
from  those  who  desire  a  wife.  Even  the  more  wealthy 
and  more  respectable  Afghans  are  not  above  thus  laud- 
ing the  female  wares  which  they  have  for  sale.  Even 
the  betrothal  of  girls  who  are  not  yet  born  is  frequent. 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS  OF  ISLAM  51 

It  is  also  usual  for  compensation  for  blood  to  be  ordered 
to  be  paid  in  the  shape  of  girls,  some  of  whom  are  living, 
whilst  others  are  yet  unborn." 

And  again:  — 

"Among  Afghans  and  their  neighbors,  polygamy  is  Afghanistan 
only  limited  by  the  purchasing  ability  of  the  man,  and 
a  wife  is  looked  on  as  a  better  investment  than  cattle  ; 
for  in  a  country  where  drought  and  scarcity  are  continu- 
ally present,  the  risk  of  loss  in  animals  is  great,  whilst 
the  female  offspring  of  a  woman  will  fetch  a  high  price. 
Woman's  tutelage  does  not  end  with  widowhood.  In  the 
household  of  a  deceased  Afghan  she  is  looked  on  as  an 
asset  in  the  division  of  his  property.  It  is  no  uncommon 
thing  to  find  a  son  willing  to  sell  his  own  mother." 

Where  woman  is  thus  regarded  as  a  mere 
chattel,  it  is  no  wonder  that  every  marriage 
bond  is  easily  broken,  and  that  where,  by 
reason  of  poverty,  polygamy  is  impossible, 
caprice  or  lust  is  satisfied  by  frequent  divorce. 
The  facility,  the  legality,  and  the  universality  of 
divorce  in  the  Moslem  world  is  without  a  parallel 
under  any  other  religion. 

The  law  of  divorce  is  based  on  express  in-  Divorce 
junctions  contained  in  the  Koran,  and  the 
subject  is  deemed  of  such  importance  that  it 
occupies  one  of  the  largest  sections  in  works  on 
jurisprudence.  A  husband  may  divorce  his 
wife  for  any  cause  whatsoever,  at  any  time  and 
without  any  misbehavior  on  her  part.  Burk- 
hardt  tells  of  an  Arab,  forty -five  years  old,  who 
had  had  fifty  wives,  and  history  tells  of  early 
Moslem  leaders  who  far  exceeded  him  in  con- 
jugal unfaithfulness.  In  Egypt,  ninety-five  per 
cent  of  all  Moslem  marriages  are  followed  by 


52  MOSLEM  LANDS 

divorce.  In  West  Africa,  polygamy  is  the  rule 
among  all  Moslems,  and  only  limited  by  lack  of 
wealth,  while  divorce  is  so  frequent  that  "  it  is 
rare  to  find  a  woman,  past  the  prime  of  life, 
living  with  her  husband."1 

It  is  heart-rending  to  hear  some  of  the  cries 
of  suffering  that  ring  out  to  heaven  from  the 
lands  of  perpetual  divorce.  A  lady  missionary 
Algiers  in  Algiers  tells  of  the  cruel  treatment  of  three 
cases,  one  of  whom,  a  mere  girl,  was  already 
twice  divorced  from  drunken,  dissolute  hus- 
bands, and  continues  :  — 

"  Yet  they  have  gone  under  without  tasting  the  bit- 
terest dregs  of  a  native  woman's  cup  ;  for  (save  a  baby 
of  the  eldest  girl's  who  lived  only  a  few  weeks)  there 
were  no  children  in  the  question.  And  the  woman's 
deepest  anguish  begins  where  they  are  concerned.  For 
divorce  is  always  hanging  over  her  head.  The  birth  of 
a  daughter  when  a  son  had  been  hoped  for,  an  illness 
that  has  become  a  bit  tedious,  a  bit  of  caprice  or  counter- 
attraction  on  the  husband's  part  —  any  of  these  things 
may  mean  that  he  will  "  tear  the  paper  "  that  binds  them 
together,  and  for  eight  francs  the  kadi  will  set  him  free. 
This  means  that  the  children  will  be  forced  from  the 
mother  and  knocked  about  by  the  next  wife  that  comes 
on  the  scene;  and  the  mother-heart  will  suffer  a  constant 
martyrdom  from  her  husband  if  only  divorce  can  be 
averted." 

Slavery  Slavery.  —  This  might  as  well  have  been  the 

heading  of  the  previous  paragraph.  But  in 
Moslem  law  a  separate  section  is  given  to  the 
traffic  in  human  flesh,  although  the  lot  of  Negro 
slaves  in  the  Mohammedan  world  has  never 
been  much  worse  than  the  daily  slavery  of 
i  "  The  Mohammedan  World  of  To-day,"  p.  49. 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS  OF  ISLAM  53 

women  (with  its  Damocles  sword  of  divorce 
hanging  over  every  bridal  couch)  and  is  often 
better. 

Mohammed  found  slavery  an  existing  institu- 
tion both  among  the  Jews  and  the  idolaters  of 
Arabia,  recognized  it,  and  by  legislating  for  its 
continuance,  perpetuated  it.  The  teaching  of 
the  Koran  is  very  explicit.  (See  the  follow- 
ing Surahs:  4:  3,29;  33:49;  23:5;  16:  77; 
24  :  33.)  All  male  and  female  slaves  taken  as 
plunder  in  war  are  the  lawful  property  of  their 
master  ;  the  master  has  power  to  purchase  any 
number  of  female  slaves,  either  married  or 
single  ;  the  position  of  a  slave  is  compared  to 
the  helplessness  of  the  stone  idols  of  pagan 
Arabia  ;  yet  slaves  must  be  treated  with  kind- 
ness and  be  granted  their  freedom  when  they 
are  able  to  purchase  it. 

The  slave  traffic  is  not  only  allowed,  but  Slave 
legislated  for  by  Mohammedan  law  and  made  Traffic 
sacred  by  the  example  of  the  Prophet  (Mish- 
kat,  Book  13,  Chapter  XX).  In  Moslem  books 
of  law  the  same  rules  apply  to  the  sale  of  animals 
and  slaves.  There  is  absolutely  no  limit  to 
the  number  of  slave  girls  with  whom  a  Mos- 
lem may  cohabit,  and  it  is  this  consecration 
of  carnal  indulgence  which  so  popularizes  the 
Mohammedan  religion  among  uncivilized  tribes 
and  so  popularizes  slavery  in  the  Moslem  state. 

Some  Moslem  apologists  of  the  present  day 
contend  that  Mohammed  looked  upon  the  cus- 
tom as  temporary  in  its  nature ;  but  slavery  is 
so  interwoven  with  the  laws  of  marriage,  of 


54  MOSLEM  LANDS 

sale,  of  inheritance,  and  with  the  whole  social 
fabric,  that  its  abolition  strikes  at  the  foun- 
dations of  their  legal  code.  Whenever  and 
wherever  Moslem  rulers  have  agreed  to  the 
abolition  or  suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  they 
have  acted  contrary  to  the  privileges  of  their 
religion  in  consenting  to  obey  the  laws  of 
humanity. 

Arabia,  the  Holy  Land  of  Islam,  is  still  a 
centre  of  the  slave  trade.  It  is  also  prevalent 
in  Morocco,  although  decreasing  in  Tripoli  and 
Zanzibar.  Where  Moslems  live  under  Chris- 
tian rule,  the  traffic  in  slaves  has  been  pro- 
hibited, but  in  no  case  has  this  been  due  to  a 
reformation  in  Islam  itself. 

The  Mecca  Dr.  C.  Snouck  Hurgronje  describes  the  public 
Slave  Mar-  siave  market  at  Mecca  in  full  swing  every  day 
during  his  visit  in  1879.  It  is  located  near 
Bab  Derebah  and  the  holy  mosque,  and  open  to 
everybody.  Although  he  himself  apologizes  for 
the  traffic,  and  calls  the  anti-slavery  crusade 
a  swindle,  he  yet  confesses  to  all  the  horrible 
details  in  the  sale  of  female  slaves  and  the 
mutilation  of  male  slaves  for  the  markets. 
And  we  know  that  conditions  have  not  changed 
for  the  better  to  this  day. 

A  book  recently  published  describes  the  pil- 
grim  journey  of  Hadji  Khan  to  Mecca  in  1902, 
and  in  the  Appendix  is  a  plea  to  stop  the  cruel 
trade  in  slaves. 

"  Go  there,"  says  the  writer,  "  and  see  for  yourself  the 
condition  of  the  human  chattels  for  purchase.  You  will 
find  them,  thanks  to  the  vigilance  of  British  cruisers, 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS  OF  ISLAM  55 

less  numerous,  and  consequently  more  expensive,  than 
they  were  in  former  years ;  but  there  they  are,  flung 
pell-mell  in  the  open  square.  .  .  .  The  dealer  standing 
by,  cried  out :  i  Come  and  buy,  the  first  fruits  of  the 
season,  delicate,  fresh  and  green ;  come  and  buy,  strong 
and  useful,  faithful  and  honest.  Come  and  buy." 

"  The  day  of  sacrifice  was  past,  and  the  richer  pilgrims 
in  their  brightest  robes  gathered  around.  One  among 
them  singled  out  the  girl.  They  entered  a  booth  to- 
gether. The  mothei  was  left  behind.  One  word  she 
uttered,  or  was  it  a  moan  of  inarticulate  grief  ?  Soon 
after,  the  girl  came  back.  And  the  dealer,  when  the 
bargain  was  over,  said  to  the  purchaser :  i  I  sell  you  this 
property  of  mine,  the  female  slave,  Narcissus,  for  the 
sum  of  £40.'  Thus  the  bargain  was  clinched.  .  .  .  Men 
slaves  could  be  bought  for  sums  varying  from  £15  to  £40. 
The  children  in  arms  were  sold  with  their  mothers,  an 
act  of  mercy ;  but  those  that  could  feed  themselves  had 
to  take  their  chance.  More  often  than  not,  they  were 
separated  from  their  mothers,  which  gave  rise  to  scenes 
which  many  a  sympathetic  pilgrim  would  willingly  forget 
if  he  could."  l 

Cruelty  and  Intolerance. — Islam  is  a  hard  intolerance 
religion  toward  those  that  do  not  embrace  it  — 
the  "  infidel "  must  be  brought  low  ;  and  a 
heartless  religion  toward  all  who  abandon  it  — 
the  apostate  must  be  put  to  death.  There  is 
neither  precept  nor  example  enjoining  love  to 
one's  enemies.  Islam  knows  nothing  of  a  uni- 
versal benevolence  or  of  a  humane  tolerance, 
nor  did  Mohammed. 

The  Koran  does  not  reveal  a  God  of  love.   NoGoa 
Allah  is  too  rich,  too  proud,  and  too  indepen-  of  Love 

1  "  With  the  Pilgrims  to  Mecca,  The  Great  Pilgrimage  of 
A.H.  1319,  A.D.  1902,"  by  Hadji  Khan.  John  Lane,  London 
and  New  York,  1905. 


56 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


The  Sword 
of  Islam 


El  Azhar 


dent  to  need  or  desire  the  tribute  of  human 
love.  In  consequence,  the  loveless  creed  pro- 
duces loveless  character.  That  the  element  of 
love  was  lacking  in  Mohammed's  idea  of  God 
is  perhaps  the  reason  also  why  the  Koran,  in 
contrast  with  the  Bible,  has  so  little  for  and 
about  children.  Of  such  is  not  the  kingdom 
of  Mohammed.  His  was  a  kingdom  of  the 
sword  and  for  warriors  who  could  spill  blood. 
And  the  lessons  learned  during  the  long  wars 
of  conquest  and  the  bitter  strife  of  Moslem  sect 
with  sect  have  never  been  forgotten. 

The  Armenian  massacres,  the  condition  of 
Turkish  prisons,  the  barbarities  of  Morocco, 
the  cruelties  of  the  African  slave-trade,  the 
excruciating  tortures  practised  on  criminals  in 
Persia,  and  the  methods  of  self-torture  used  by 
the  Dervish  orders,  —  all  these  are  topics  that 
would  require  volumes  to  include  all  the  evi- 
dence of  their  horror.  Yet  all  these  things 
are  connected  directly  or  indirectly  with  the 
Moslem  religion  and  would  cease  in  these  lands, 
if  it  did. 

In  the  great  Mohammedan  University  of  El 
Azhar  at  Cairo  with  its  thousands  of  stu- 
dents from  every  part  of  the  world,  we  might 
expect  some  little  breadth  of  sympathy  and 
some  breath  of  tolerance.  But  there  is  neither. 
This  missionary  prayer  was  offered  there,  for 
many  years  past,  every  evening  :  — 

"  I  seek  refuge  with  Allah  from  Satan  the  accursed ! 
In  the  name  of  Allah,  the  Compassionate,  the  Mercif  u.1 ! 
O  Lord  of  all  creatures,  O  Allah  1  destroy  the  infidels 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS   OF  ISLAM  57 

and  polytheists,  thine  enemies,  the  enemies  of  the  re- 
ligion !  O  Allah  !  make  their  children  orphans  and  de- 
file their  abodes !  Cause  their  feet  to  slip ;  give  them 
and  their  families,  their  households  and  their  women,  A  Prayer 
their  children  and  their  relations  by  marriage,  their 
brothers  and  their  friends,  their  possessions  and  their 
race,  their  wealth  and  their  lands,  as  booty  to  the  Mos- 
lems, O  Lord  of  all  creatures !  " 

And  where  could  we  find  stronger  and  more 
recent  instances  of  Moslem  intolerance  than  in 
the  reports  of  many  missionary  societies  labor- 
ing in  Moslem  lands  ;  unless  we  care  to  listen 
to  Sheikh  Abd  ul  Hak,  of  Bagdad,  and  his 
"Final  Word  of  Islam  to  Europe"?1 

Ignorance  and  Illiteracy.  —  It  is  a  disputed  ignorance 
question  whether  Mohammed  could  read  and 
write.  Moslems  themselves  are  not  agreed,  and 
Western  scholarship  is  still  undecided  as  to 
the  evidence,2  although  Mohammedans  gener- 
ally speak  of  their  Prophet  as  the  "Illiterate." 
But  there  can  be  no  dispute  in  this  respect 
about  the  followers  of  the  Prophet.  The  illit- 
eracy of  the  Mohammedan  world  to-day  is  as 
surprising  as  it  is  appalling.  One  would  think 
that  a  religion  which  almost  worships  its  sacred 
Book,  and  which  once  was  mistress  of  science 
and  literature,  would,  in  its  onward  sweep,  have 
enlightened  the  nations.  But  facts  are  stub-  illiteracy 
born  things.  Careful  investigations  show  that 
seventy-five  to  one  hundred  per  cent  of  the 
Moslems  in  Africa  are  unable  to  read  or  write. 

1  See  end  of  this  chapter. 

2  See  the  list  of  writers  pro  and  con  in  "The  Moslem 
Doctrine  of  God,"  p.  92. 


58  MOSLEM  LANDS 

In  Tripoli  ninety  per  cent  are  illiterate  •, 
in  Egypt  eighty-eight  per  cent  ;  in  Algiers 
over  ninety  per  cent.  In  Turkey  there  has 
been  improvement  in  recent  years,  yet  even 
now  it  is  forty  per  cent  of  the  population. 
Persia  now  has  a  constitution,  but  it  has  no 
public-school  system,  and  ninety  per  cent  of 
the  people  can  neither  read  nor  write.  In 
Baluchistan,  according  to  the  British  census, 
only  117  per  thousand  of  the  Mohammedan 
men,  and  only  23  per  thousand  among  the 
women,  can  read. 

illiteracy  But    the    most    surprising   facts    are    in   re- 

gard to  India,  where  the  Mohammedans  are 
still  put  down  in  the  census  as  a  "  backward 
class."  After  over  a  century  of  British  rule 
and  Christian  missions  and  religious  agitation, 
over  ninety-six  per  cent  of  the  Mohammedans 
in  India  are  illiterate  !  The  figures  given  are 
59,674,499  unable  to  read  or  write  among  a 
Mohammedan  population  of  62,458,077 !  It  is 
almost  incredible. 

paucity  And  this  widespread  illiteracy  is  sometimes 

oi  Books  (jue  £o  a  paucitv  of  literature  of  a  character 
suited  for  the  home  and  for  common  people. 
The  literary  style  of  Arabic,  for  example,  has 
become  so  artificially  stilted  and  obscure  that 
only  highly  educated  people  can  read  some  of 
the  daily  papers,  and  poetry  generally  requires 
footnotes  to  make  it  intelligible.  "  The  paucity 
of  literature  of  all  kinds  in  Turkey,  where  gov- 
ernment press  regulations  prohibit  any  general 
output  of  publications,"  we  are  told  by  a  lady 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS  OF  ISLAM  59 

missionary,  "  combined  with  the  general  poverty 
of  the  people,  makes  many  a  home  bookless  and 
the  great  majority  of  lives  barren." 

The  Moslem  village  school  is  a  caricature 
of  what  lower  education  should  be,  and  the 
Moslem  Mullah,  with  all  his  learned-ignorance 
and  fanaticism,  is  the  finished  product  of  the 
higher  education.  In  all  Moslem  schools  not 
yet  influenced  by  Western  civilization,  the 
Ptolemaic  system  is  taught,  not  only  in  astron- 
omy (as  indeed  the  Koran  compels),  but  the 
whole  realm  of  thought  is  made  to  revolve 
around  the  little  world  of  Mohammed  and  his 
book.1 

For  five  hundred  years  Islam  has  been  su-  Turkey 
preme  in  Turkey,  one  of  the  fairest  and  richest 
portions  of  the  Old  World  as  regards  natural 
resources.  And  what  is  the  result  ?  The 
Mohammedan  population  has  decreased ;  the 
treasury  is  bankrupt ;  progress  is  blocked ; 
instead  of  wealth,  universal  poverty  ;  instead 
of  comeliness,  rags  ;  instead  of  commerce,  beg- 
gary, —  a  failure  greater  and  more  absolute 
than  history  can  elsewhere  present. 

In  most  Mohammedan  countries,  the  general  NO  Arts 
ignorance  of  the  people  is  plainly  evident  in 
the  rude  and  crude  methods  of  agriculture, 
building,  and  transportation.  Wheeled  car- 
riages or  carts  are  unknown  in  Arabia,  Persia, 
and  Afghanistan,  save  as  they  are  imported 
from  other  lands.  The  first  pump  ever  seen  in 

1  See  The  Missionary  Review  of  the  World,  February, 
1908. 


60  MOSLEM  LANDS 

eastern  Arabia  was  imported  by  the  mission- 
aries, and  in  Oman  many  children  still  use  the 
bleached  shoulder-blades  of  camels  instead  of 
slates  at  school. 

No  Banking  The  Algeciras  Conference  made  much  ado 
about  the  new  bank  for  Morocco,  but  a  resident 
of  the  country  writes  in  the  North  American 
Review :  "  And  in  regard  to  the  bank.  The 
Moors  have  not  the  least  comprehension  of 
the  workings  of  a  bank,  and,  moreover,  their 
religion  forbids  them  to  deposit  their  money  in 
one.  Moors  who  have  money  bank  it  in  the 
ground.  Many  of  them  die  without  disclosing 
to  any  one  else  their  place  of  deposit.  No 
Moor  dares  to  appear  rich  for  fear  of  being  cast 
into  prison  and  despoiled  by  the  officials  of  his 
Government,  or  for  fear  of  assassination  at  the 
hands  of  other  robbers.  The  Government  has 
no  public  works,  and  the  mass  of  the  people 
have  no  arts  and  trades.  The  bank  will  find 
it  next  to  impossible  to  deal  with  the  Moors." 

"  Of  other  robbers  "  !  How  eloquent  is  that 
phrase  to  describe  the  condition  of  "life,  lib- 
erty, and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  "  in  darkest 
Morocco! 

Superstition  Superstition  and  Quackery.  —  These  twin- 
sisters  of  Ignorance  are  also  a  curse  in  Moslem 
lands.  And  both  of  them  trace  their  lineage 
back  to  the  Koran  and  the  traditions  of  Islam. 
A  volume  might  be  written  on  the  superstitions 
of  Mohammed,  and  a  volume  has  been  compiled 
on  all  his  ignorant  quackery  by  a  learned 
Moslem  and  entitled  "  The  Science  of  Medi- 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS   OF  ISLAM  61 

cine   according   to   the    Prophet"   (Et-Tub   en 
Nebawi) . 

Mohammed  gave  instructions  to  his  follow-  Omens 
ers  in  regard  to  omens,  charms,  talismans,  and  and  Dreams 
witchcraft.  "  If  a  fly  falls  into  a  dish  of  vict- 
uals," he  said,  "plunge  it  in  completely,  then 
take  it  out  and  throw  it  away  ;  for  in  one  of  its 
wings  is  a  cause  of  sickness,  and  in  the  other  a 
cause  of  health  ;  and  in  falling  it  falls  on  the 
sick  wing  ;  and  if  it  is  submerged,  the  other 
will  counteract  its  bad  effect."  To  make  a  bad 
drearn  harmless,  he  thought  it  necessary  to  spit 
three  times  over  the  left  shoulder.  He  was 
very  careful  to  begin  everything  from  the  right 
side,  and  to  end  with  the  left ;  and  he  smeared 
the  antimony  first  in  his  right  eye.  His  idea 
of  omens,  however,  was  more  sensible:  he 
admitted  lucky  omens,  but  forbade  belief  in 
unlucky  ones. 

These  are  only  single  paragraphs  from  a 
whole  literature  of  superstition  that  has  been 
collected,  treasured,  augmented,  and  believed 
for  thirteen  centuries. 

A  large  part  of  current  medical  practice  Medicine 
among  Mohammedans  rests  on  superstition. 
Kei)  or  actual  cautery,  is,  according  to  Mo- 
hammed, the  last  cure  for  all  sorts  of  diseases ; 
so  also  is  Klielal,  or  perforating  the  skin  surface 
with  a  red-hot  iron  and  then  passing  a  thread 
through  the  hole  to  facilitate  suppuration. 
Scarcely  one  Arab  or  Persian  in  a  hundred  who 
has  not  some  kei-marks  on  his  body ;  even  in- 
fants are  burned  most  cruelly  in  this  way  to 


62 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Amulets 


The 
Child-witch 


relieve  diseases  of  childhood.  Where  kei  fails, 
they  have  recourse  to  words  written  on  paper 
either  from  the  Koran,  or,  by  law  of  contra- 
ries, words  of  evil,  sinister  import.  These  the 
patient  "  takes "  either  by  swallowing  them, 
paper  and  all,  or  by  drinking  the  ink-water  in 
which  the  writing  is  washed  off. 

The  following  are  used  as  amulets  in  many 
Moslem  lands  :  a  small  Koran  suspended  from 
the  shoulder  ;  a  chapter  written  on  paper  and 
folded  in  a  leather  case  ;  some  names  of  God 
and  their  numerical  values;  the  names  of  the 
Prophet  and  his  companions  ;  greenstones  with- 
out inscriptions  ;  beads,  old  coins,  teeth,  holy 
earth  in  small  bags.  Amulets  are  not  only 
worn  by  the  Moslems  themselves  and  to  pro- 
tect their  children  from  the  evil  eye,  but  are 
put  on  camels,  donkeys,  horses,  fishing-boats, 
and  sometimes  over  the  doors  of  their  dwellings. 
The  Arabs  are  very  superstitious  in  every  way. 

In  Hejaz,  if  a  child  is  very  ill,  the  mother 
takes  seven  flat  loaves  of  bread  and  puts  them 
under  its  pillow;  in  the  morning  the  loaves 
are  given  to  the  dogs  —  and  the  child  is  not 
always  cured.  Rings  are  worn  against  the  in- 
fluence of  evil  spirits ;  incense  or  evil-smelling 
compounds  are  burned  in  the  sick-room  to  drive 
away  the  devil ;  mystic  symbols  are  written  on 
the  walls  for  a  similar  purpose.  Love-philtres 
are  everywhere  used  and  in  demand ;  and  name- 
less absurdities  are  committed  to  insure  child- 
birth. The  child-witch,  called  Um-es-subyan, 
is  feared  by  all  mothers;  narcotics  are  used 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS  OF  ISLAM  63 

freely  to  quiet  unruly  infants  and,  naturally, 
mortality  is  very  large.  Of  surgery  and  mid-  Surgery 
wifery  the  Moslems,  as  a  rule,  are  totally  igno- 
rant, and  if  their  medical  treatment  is  purely 
ridiculous,  their  surgery  is  piteously  cruel,  al- 
though never  intentionally  so.  In  all  eastern 
Arabia,  blind  women  are  preferred  as  midwives, 
and  rock-salt  is  used  by  them  against  puerperal 
hemorrhage.  Gunshot  wounds  are  treated  in 
Bahrein  by  a  poultice  of  dates,  onions,  and  tam- 
arind ;  and  the  accident  is  guarded  against  in 
the  future  by  wearing  a  "  lead-amulet." 

There  are  many  other  superstitions  in  no 
way  connected  with  the  treatment  of  the  sick. 
Tree-worship  and  stone-worship  still  exist  in  Tree- 
many  parts  of  Arabia  in  spite  of  the  so-called  worship 
"pure  monotheism"  of  Islam.  Both  of  these 
forms  of  worship  date  back  to  the  time  of  idol- 
atry, and  remain  as  they  were  partly  by  the  sanc- 
tion of  Mohammed  himself,  for  did  he  not  make 
the  black  stone  in  the  Kaaba,  the  centre  of  his 
system  of  prayer  ?  Sacred  trees  are  called  Man- 
ahil,  places  where  angels  or  jinn  descend ;  no 
leaf  of  such  trees  may  be  plucked,  and  they  are 
honored  with  sacrifices  of  shreds  of  flesh,  while 
they  look  gay  with  bits  of  calico  and  beads 
which  every  worshipper  hangs  on  the  shrine. 
Just  outside  of  the  Mecca  gate  at  Jiddah  stands 
one  of  these  rag  trees  with  its  crowd  of  pil- 
grims ;  in  Yemen  they  are  found  by  every  way- 
side and  also  in  Baluchistan  and  southern  Persia. 

The  Gospel  the  Only  Remedy.  —  It  is  very 
evident  that  no  remedy  for  these  great  social 


64 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Islam 
Bankrupt 


We  are 
Debtors 


evils  can  be  found  in  Islam.  The  Moslem 
world  has  long  since  suspended  payment,  —  it 
never  had  reserve  capital,  —  and  is  socially  bank- 
rupt. There  is  no  power  of  reform  from  within. 
Falsehood,  immorality,  slavery,  the  degradation 
of  marriage,  the  pollution  of  the  home,  the  crush- 
ing yoke  of  universal  ignorance  and  supersti- 
tion, —  all  these  can  be  uprooted  and  destroyed 
only  by  Him  who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and 
the  Life  —  the  Light  of  the  world  and  the  Sav- 
iour of  men. 

"  As  a  social  system,"  writes  Stanley  Lane 
Poole,  "  Islam  is  a  complete  failure :  it  has 
misunderstood  the  relation  of  the  sexes,  upon 
which  the  whole  character  of  a  nation's  life 
hangs,  and  by  degrading  women  has  degraded 
each  successive  generation  of  their  children 
down  an  increasing  scale  of  infamy  and  cor- 
ruption, until  it  seems  almost  impossible  to 
reach  a  lower  level  of  vice."  But  there  is  no 
level  of  vice  so  low  that  the  Gospel  cannot 
reach  and  uplift  men  and  women  from  it. 
There  is  hope  for  the  Mohammedan  home  and 
Mohammedan  society  and  Mohammedan  hearts 
in  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  Because  we  know 
this  and  they  are  ignorant  of  it,  we  are  debt- 
ors. And  who  can  read  of  such  social  evils 
without  a  thought  of  the  Christ  in  His  relation 
to  them  and  to  us  ? 

"My  God,  can  such  things  be? 
Hast  thou  not  said,  that  whatso'er  is  done 
Unto  Thy  weakest  and  Thy  humblest  one 
Is  even  done  to  Thee  ? 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS   OF  ISLAM  65 

"  Hoarse,  horrible  and  strong 
Rises  to  heaven  that  agonizing  cry, 
Filling  the  arches  of  the  hollow  sky, 
How  long,  O  God,  how  long?" 

HELPS  FOR  LEADERS 

Lesson  Aim : 

To  show  the  hopeless  character  of  Islam  for  the  pres- 
ent life  and  its  moral  bankruptcy. 
Scripture  Lesson : 

Rom.  1 : 18-32  ;  Phil.  3  : 18,  19  ;  Matt.  7  : 15-20. 
Suggestive  Questions : 

1.  Write  a  short  paper  on  Child-life  in  Persia. 

2.  What  are  the  chief  amusements  forbidden  by  the 
Moslem  religion  ? 

3.  Has  any  land  under  Moslem  rule  a  public-school 
system  or  public  libraries  ? 

4.  Contrast   the  rights  of  women  according  to  the 
Mosaic  law  and  according  to  the  Koran. 

5.  What    is    the   present   commercial   condition    of 
Morocco  ? 

6.  Draw    a    map    of    the   railroads  in  the   Turkish 
Empire. 

7.  Give  instances  of  cruel  native  medical  practice  in 
Arabia,  Tripoli.  Morocco. 

8.  Was  Mohammed  a  kind  husband? 

9.  Locate  the  present  centres  of  the  slave  trade  on 
the  map. 

10.     Describe  zenana  life  in  Hyderabad,  India. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

"  Our  Moslem  Sisters —  A  Cry  of  Need  from  Lands  of 
Darkness  "  (Papers  by  Missionaries).  Fleming  H.  Revell 
Co.,  1907. 

Dr.  James  S.  Dennis,  "  Christian  Missions  and  Social 
Progress,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  79,  91,  93,  98,  105-110,  115,  275- 
277,  334,  335,  389-391.  Vol.  II,  375,  etc. 


66  MOSLEM  LANDS 

"The  Mohammedan  World  of  To-day."  (Consult 
index.) 

Robert  E.  Speer.  "Missionary  Principles  and  Prac- 
tice" (Chapters  XXIV,  XXV). 

Hughes,  "  Dictionary  of  Islam."  Articles  on  Divorce, 
Marriage,  Slavery,  Women,  Jihad. 

Major  Osborne,  "  Islam  under  the  Arabs."  London, 
1876. 

Major  Osborne,  "  Islam  under  the  Caliphs."  London, 
1878. 

Lane,  "  Manners  and  Customs  of  Modern  Egyptians." 

ILLUSTRATIVE   SELECTIONS 

The  Most  Degraded  Religion.  —  "  Mohammedanism  is 
held  by  many  who  have  to  live  under  its  shadow  to  be 
the  most  degraded  religion,  morally,  in  the  world.  We 
speak  of  it  as  superior  to  the  other  religions  because  of 
its  monotheistic  faith,  but  I  would  rather  believe  in  ten 
pure  gods  than  in  one  God  who  would  have  for  his 
supreme  prophet  and  representative  a  man  with  Moham- 
med's moral  character.  Missionaries  from  India  will  tell 
you  that  the  actual  moral  conditions  to  be  found  among 
Mohammedans  there  are  more  terrible  than  those  to  be 
found  among  the  pantheistic  Hindus  themselves;  and 
the  late  Dr.  Cochran,  of  Persia,  a  man  who  had  unsur- 
passed opportunities  for  seeing  the  inner  life  of  Moham- 
medan men,  told  me,  toward  the  close  of  his  life,  that  he 
could  not  say,  out  of  his  long  and  intimate  acquaintance 
as  a  doctor  with  the  men  of  Persia,  that  he  had  ever  met 
one  pure-hearted  or  pure-lived  adult  man  among  the 
Mohammedans  of  Persia.  Can  a  religion  of  immorality, 
or  moral  inferiority,  meet  the  needs  of  struggling  men  ?  " 
—  ROBERT  E.  SPEER,  at  the  Nashville  Convention,  1905. 

The  Pride  of  Fanaticism.  —  Only  five  years  ago  Sheikh 
Abd  ul  Hak,  of  Bagdad,  a  Moslem  of  the  old  school, 
wrote  an  article  on  behalf  of  the  Pan-Islamic  league.  It 
appeared  in  a  French  journal,  and  was  entitled  "  The 
Final  Word  of  Islam  to  Europe."  From  this  remark- 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS  OF  ISLAM  67 

able,  outspoken,  and  doubtless  sincere  defiance,  we  quote 
the  following  paragraph  :  — 

"  For  us  in  the  world  there  are  only  believers  and  unbe- 
lievers; love,  charity,  fraternity  toward  believers;  con- 
tempt, disgust,  hatred,  and  war  against  unbelievers. 
Amongst  unbelievers,  the  most  hateful  and  criminal  are 
those  who,  while  recognizing  God,  attribute  to  Him 
earthly  relationships,  give  Him  a  son,  a  mother.  Learn 
then,  European  observers,  that  a  Christian  of  no  matter 
what  position,  from  the  simple  fact  that  he  is  a  Chris- 
tian, is  in  our  eyes  a  blind  man  fallen  from  all  human 
dignity.  Other  infidels  have  rarely  been  aggressive 
toward  us.  But  Christians  have  in  all  times  shown 
themselves  our  bitterest  enemies.  .  .  .  The  only  excuse 
you  offer  is  that  you  reproach  us  with  being  rebellious 
against  your  civilization.  Yes,  rebellious,  and  rebellious 
till  death ;  but  it  is  you,  and  you  alone,  who  are  the 
cause  of  this.  Great  God !  are  we  blind  enough  not  to 
see  the  prodigies  of  your  progress  ?  But  know,  Christian 
conquerors,  that  no  calculation,  no  treasure,  no  miracle 
can  ever  reconcile  us  to  your  impious  rule.  Know  that 
the  mere  sight  of  your  flag  here  is  torture  to  Islam's 
soul ;  your  greatest  benefits  are  so  many  spots  sullying 
our  conscience,  and  our  most  ardent  aspiration  and  hope 
is  to  reach  the  happy  day  when  we  can  efface  the  last 
vestiges  of  your  accursed  empire." l 

Mohammed's  Ideas  about  Women.  —  "  The  fatal  blot  in 
Islam  is  the  degradation  of  women.  Yet  it  would  be 
hard  to  lay  the  blame  altogether  on  Mohammed.  .  .  . 
His  ideas  about  women  were  like  those  of  the  rest  of 
his  contemporaries.  He  looked  upon  them  as  charming 
snares  to  the  believer,  ornamental  articles  of  furniture 
difficult  to  keep  in  order,  pretty  playthings ;  but  that  a 
woman  should  be  the  counsellor  and  companion  of  a  man 
does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  him.  It  is  to  be  won- 
dered that  the  feeling  of  respect  he  always  entertained 

1  Quoted  in  Der  Christliche  Orient,  Berlin,  Vol.  IV,  p. 
145.  And  also  at  the  time,  in  other  papers  from  the  French 
original. 


68  MOSLEM  LANDS 

for  his  first  wife,  Khadijah  (which,  however,  is  partly 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  she  was  old  enough  to 
have  been  his  mother),  found  no  counterpart  in  his  gen- 
eral opinion  of  womankind :  <  Woman  was  made  from 
a  crooked  rib,  and  if  you  try  to  bend  it  straight,  it  will 
break ;  therefore  treat  your  wives  kindly.' 

"  Kind  as  the  prophet  was  himself  to  wards  bonds  wo  men, 
one  cannot  forget  the  unutterable  brutalities  which  he 
suffered  his  followers  to  inflict  upon  conquered  nations  in 
the  taking  of  slaves.  The  Muslim  soldier  was  allowed  to 
do  as  he  pleased  with  any  * infidel'  woman  he  might 
meet  with  on  his  victorious  march.  When  one  thinks  of 
the  thousands  of  women,  mothers  and  daughters,  who 
must  have  suffered  untold  shame  and  dishonour  by  this 
license,  he  cannot  find  words  to  express  his  horror.  And 
this  cruel  indulgence  has  left  its  mark  on  the  Muslim 
character,  nay,  on  the  whole  character  of  Eastern  life." 

—  STANLEY  LANE  POOLE. 

A  Lawsuit  in  Morocco.  — "  Moorish  judges  respect  no 
law  in  their  decisions,  but  twist  and  turn  the  code  to  their 
own  private  gain.  To  the  mind  of  a  modern  judge,  the 
cleverest  and  most  convincing  argument  is  a  goodly 
bribe.  Litigants  are  often  forced  to  abandon  their  cases 
because  they  find  themselves  unable  to  satisfy  the  greed 
of  the  judges.  The  following  is  an  example  of  modern 
justice :  Two  adversaries  present  themselves  before  the 
judge.  The  plaintiff  states  his  case.  The  defendant 
(who  has  already  sent  to  the  judge's  house  a  handsome 
mirror)  states  his  case,  at  the  same  time  casting  a  signifi- 
cant glance  at  the  judge.  The  judge  is  about  to  decide  in 
favor  of  the  defendant,  when  the  plaintiff  (who  is  not  at 
law  for  the  first  time)  gives  the  judge  a  knowing  look, 
and  begs  that  judgment  may  be  deferred  until  the  follow- 
ing day.  The  request  is  granted.  The  following  morn- 
ing, the  plaintiff  goes  personally  to  the  judge's  house 
with  a  magnificent  mule.  He  finds  the  judge  has  already 
gone  to  the  court,  so  he  leaves  the  mule  and  instructs  the 
servants  to  inform  the  judge  of  the  animal's  arrival.  The 
plaintiff  then  goes  on  his  way  to  the  court,  where  he  finds 


THE  SOCIAL  EVILS  OF  ISLAM  69 

the  judge  and  the  defendant.  While  the  adversaries  are 
standing  before  the  judge,  a  servant  of  the  latter  enters, 
and  announces  that  i  The  mule  has  smashed  the  mirror  1 ' 
Judgment  is  at  once  rendered  in  favor  of  the  plaintiff." 
—  ASAAD  KALARJI  KARAM  (in  the  North  American  Re- 
view, November,  1906). 


"  There  are  weak  points  in  Islam  which,  if  persistently 
attacked,  must  lead  to  its  eventual  overthrow,  while 
Christianity  has  forces  which  make  it  more  than  a  match 
for  Mohammedanism  or  any  other  religion.  From  its 
birth  Islam  has  been  steeped  in  blood  and  lust,  blood 
spilt  and  lust  sated  by  the  sanctions  of  religion.  The 
Koran  is  doomed."  —  ION  KEITH  FALCONER. 

"  I  long  for  the  prayers  of  your  band  of  intercessors, 
offering  this  simple  request  that,  as  the  Arab  has  been  so 
grievously  a  successful  instrument  in  deposing  Christ 
from  His  throne  (for  this  long  season  only)  in  so  many 
fair  and  beautiful  regions  of  the  East  ...  so  the  Arab 
may  be,  in  God's  good  providence,  at  least  one  of  the 
main  auxiliaries  and  reinforcements  in  restoring  the  great 
King,  and  reseating  Him  on  David's  throne  of  judgment 
and  mercy,  and,  above  all,  God's  throne  of  righteousness !  " 
—  BISHOP  T.  VALPY  FRENCH  (Muscat,  1891). 

"I  believe  we  are  in  the  midst  of  a  great  battle.  We 
are  not  ourselves  fighting,  we  are  simply  accepting  every- 
thing that  comes.  But  the  powers  of  light  are  fighting 
against  the  powers  of  darkness,  and  they  will  certainly 
prevail."  —  HESTER  NEEDHAM  (in  Sumatra). 


70 


CHAPTER   III 

THE  STORY   OF  MISSIONS  TO   MOSLEMS 

The  Centuries  of  Neglect.  —  Not  without  rea-  Long 
son  did  Raymimd  Lull,  even  in  the  thirteenth  Neglect 
century,  pour  out  his  complaint  of   the   utter 
indifference   in   his   day   toward   the   spiritual 
need  of  the  Saracens. 

"  I  see  many  knights,"  he  wrote,  "  going  to  the  Holy 
Land  beyond  the  seas  and  thinking  that  they  can  acquire 
it  by  force  of  arms  ;  but  in  the  end  all  are  destroyed  be- 
fore they  attain  that  which  they  think  to  have.  Whence 
it  seems  to  me  that  the  conquest  of  the  Holy  Land  ought 
not  to  be  attempted  except  in  the  way  in  which  Thou  and 
Thine  apostles  acquired  it,  namely,  by  love  and  prayers, 
and  the  pouring  out  of  tears  and  of  blood." 

And  at  another  time  he  prays :  — 

"  Lot d  of  Heaven,  Father  of  all  times,  when  Thou  didst  Lull's 
send  Thy  Son  to  take  upon  Him  human  nature,  He  and  Prayer 
His  apostles  lived  in  outward  peace  with  Jews,  Pharisees, 
and  other  men ;  for  never  by  outward  violence  did  they 
capture  or  slay  any  of  the  unbelievers,  or  of  those  who 
persecuted  them.  Of  this  outward  peace  they  availed 
themselves  to  bring  the  erring  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth  and  to  a  communion  of  spirit  with  themselves.  And 
so  after  Thy  example  should  Christians  conduct  them- 
selves toward  Moslems  ;  but  since  that  ardour  of  devotion 
which  glowed  in  apostles  and  holy  men  of  old  no  longer 
inspires  us,  love  and  devotion  through  almost  all  the  world 
have  grown  cold,  and  therefore  do  Christians  expend 
their  efforts  far  more  in  the  outward  than  in  the  spiritual 
conflict." 

71 


72 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Henry 
Martyn 


Dr.  Jes- 
sup's  Plea 


But  his  was  a  voice  as  of  one  born  before  his 
age  and  crying  in  the  wilderness.  Had  the 
spirit  of  Raymund  Lull  filled  the  Church,  we 
would  not  to-day  speak  of  over  two  hundred 
millions  unevangelized  Moslems.  Even  as  Islam 
itself  arose  a  scourge  of  God  upon  an  unholy 
and  idolatrous  Church,  so  Islam  grew  strong 
and  extended  to  China  on  the  east  and  Sierra 
Leone  on  the  west,  because  the  Church  never  so 
much  as  touched  the  hem  of  the  vast  hosts  of 
Islam  to  evangelize  them.  The  terror  of  the 
Saracen  and  Turk  smothered  in  every  heart  even 
the  desire  to  carry  them  the  Gospel.  When  the 
missionary  revival  began  with  Carey,  the  idea 
was  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen. 

Henry  Martyn  was  the  first  modern  mission- 
ary to  preach  to  the  Mohammedans  ;  he  met 
them  in  India,  Arabia,  and  Persia  ;  his  contro- 
versial tracts  date  the  beginning  of  the  conflict 
with  the  learning  of  Islam. 

The  tiny  rill  that  flowed  almost  unnoticed  has 
gathered  volume  and  strength  with  the  growth 
of  missionary  interest,  until  in  our  day  it  has 
become  a  stream  of  thought  and  effort  going  out 
to  many  lands  and  peoples  of  the  Moslem  world. 

When  Dr.  Jessup  wrote  his  little  classic,  "  The 
Mohammedan  Missionary  Problem,"  in  1879, 
there  were  no  missionaries  in  all  Arabia,  Tunis, 
Morocco,  Tripoli,  or  Algiers.  Christendom 
was  ignorant  of  the  extent  and  character  of  Is- 
lam in  Central  Africa  ;  little  was  known  of  the 
Mohammedans  in  China,  and  the  last  chapter  in 
the  history  of  Turkey  was  the  Treaty  of  Berlin. 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS      73 

The  problem  has  greatly  changed;  old  factors 
are  cancelled  and  new  factors  have  appeared. 
But  we  can  still  say  with  the  writer,  although  we 
must  add  twenty-five  million  to  the  estimate 
then  made  of  the  number  of  Mohammedans  : 
"  It  is  our  earnest  hope  and  prayer  that  this  re- 
vival of  interest  in  the  historical,  theological, 
and  ethical  bearings  of  Islam  may  result  in  a 
new  practical  interest  in  the  spiritual  welfare 
of  the  Mohammedan  nations.  It  is  high  time 
for  the  Christian  Church  to  ask  seriously  the 
question  whether  the  last  command  of  Christ 
concerns  the  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
millions  of  the  Mohammedan  world." 

There  has  been  the  work  of  illustrious  pio-  what  has 
neers,  and  wherever  Protestant  missions  came  been  done 
in  contact  with  Islam,  whether  laboring  for 
the  reformation  of  the  Oriental  Churches  or  in 
heathen  lands,  a  great  work  of  preparation  has 
been  accomplished.  But  the  fact  remains  that 
no  part  of  the  non-Christian  world  has  been  so 
long  and  so  widely  neglected  as  Islam.  The 
task  has  either  appeared  so  formidable,  the  ob- 
stacles so  great,  or  faith  has  been  so  weak,  that 
one  might  think  the  Church  imagined  her  great 
commission  to  evangelize  the  world  did  not 
apply  to  Mohammedans. 

There  are  to-day  eighty-eight  societies  organ- 
ized for  the  conversion  of  the  Jews  ;  but  no  great 
missionary  society  has  yet  been  organized  to 
convert  Mohammedans,  and  scarcely  a  dozen 
missions  are  professedly  working  directly  among 
and  for  Moslems.  In  a  recent  sumptuous  volume 


74  MOSLEM  LANDS 

of  six  hundred  pages,  published  in  Germany,  on 
the  history  of  Protestant  missions,  work  for 
Moslems  is  dismissed  in  a  single  paragraph  and 
labelled  hopeless. 

"Christendom,"  says  Keller,  "accustomed 
itself,  ever  since  the  time  of  the  Crusades,  to' 
look  upon  Islam  as  its  most  bitter  foe  and  not 
as  a  prodigal  son,  to  be  won  back  to  the  Father's 
house."  Islam  had  rooted  itself  for  centuries 
in  every  land  before  modern  missions  came  to 
grapple  with  the  problem.  The  Church  was 

Lost  ages  behind  time,  and  lost  splendid  opportunities. 

Opportunity  Christian  missions  came  to  Persia  one  thousand 
years  after  Islam  entered.  In  Arabia  and  North 
Africa  twelve  centuries  intervened. 

The  fatalism  attributed  to  Mohammedans  is 
not  one-half  so  fatalistic  in  its  spirit  as  that 
which  for  centuries  has  been  practically  held  by 
the  Christian  Church  as  to  the  hope  or  necessity 
of  bringing  the  hosts  of  Islam  into  the  following 
of  Jesus  Christ.  There  may  have  been  reasons 
in  time  past  for  this  unreadiness  or  unwilling- 
ness, such  as  political  barriers  and  fear  of  death 
from  Moslem  fanaticism.  To-day  we  cannot 
plead  such  excuse,  for  we  have  already  seen  how 
large  a  part  of  the  Mohammedan  world  is  under 
Christian  rule  and  protection. 

Typical  Typical  Pioneers  and  Typical  Fields.  —  It  is 

Pioneers  impossible  within  the  limits  of  a  chapter  to  tell 
the  whole  story  of  the  conflict  between  Chris- 
tianity and  Islam  in  the  wide  Moslem  world 
during  the  past  centuries.  The  work  of  the  il- 
lustrious pioneers  in  each  of  the  fields  now  occu- 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS  TO  MOSLEMS     75 

pied  would  alone  require  many  books.     Whose 
life,  for  example,  was  more  worthy  of  an  elabo- 
rately written  biography  in  two  volumes,  than 
that  of  the  seven-tongued   Bishop   of   Lahore,  Bishop 
who   labored   for    Moslems  in   India  and   laid  French 
down  his  life  for  them  at  Muscat  ?     Yet  here 
we  can  scarcely  give  him  a  paragraph. 

The  same  is  true  of  each  mission  field  in  the 
Levant  or  in  North  Africa.  The  story  is  so 
full  of  interesting  material,  and  so  eloquently 
sets  forth  "  the  work  of  faith  and  labor  of  love 
and  patience  of  hope  "  of  those  who  are  toiling 
on  Moslem  soil  with  plough  and  seed-basket, 
that  it  seems  almost  impossible  to  condense  it. 
We  have,  however,  attempted  the  impossible  by 
selecting  typical  cases,  both  of  early  pioneer 
effort  and  of  present  activity. 

Some  of  the  Mohammedan  lands  have  already 
been  treated  or  touched  on  in  previous  text- 
books of  this  series.1  Others  require  special 
treatment ;  and  still  others  belong  to  the  un- 
occupied fields  of  the  world  where  live  the  un- 
reached  millions  for  whom  Christ  died.  A 
following  chapter  treats  of  the  last  named  ;  this 
chapter  treats  of  the  lands  that  are  in  a  sense 
"  occupied,"  although  nowhere  the  forces  at 
work  are  at  all  commensurate  with  the  needs 
and  opportunities. 

Three  pioneers  stand  out  prominently  in  the 

i  "  Via  Christi,"  pp.  47-51 ;  "Lux  Christi,"  pp.  48-52  ; 
"  Rex  Christi,"  pp.  76,  222;  "  Christus  Liberator,"  pp.  57-72, 
61,62,69,  168,  178,  281;  "Christus  Redemptor,"  pp.  222- 
226  ;  "Gloria  Christi,"  pp.  2,  11,  72,  259. 


76  MOSLEM  LANDS 

story  of  missions  to  the  Mohammedan  world. 
Three  Raymund  Lull  was  the  pioneer  martyr  and  the 

Leaders  grgt  £o  urge  by  WOrd  and  work  the  supreme 
need  of  special  training  for  the  evangelization 
of  Moslems.  Henry  Martyn  was  the  pioneer 
of  the  Modern  Missionary  Century,  and  led  the 
way  in  the  great  task  of  giving  the  Mohammedan 
world  the  Bible.  Karl  Gottlieb  Pfander  was  a 
pioneer  in  the  preparation  of  controversial  liter- 
ature, and  became  a  champion  for  the  truth 
whose  message  reaches  the  Moslem  literati  even 
to-day,  from  Constantinople  to  Calcutta.  All 
three  were  preeminently  missionaries  to  the 
Mohammedans,  and  stand  out,  like  Saul  in 
Israel,  higher  than  any  of  their  contemporaries 
from  their  shoulders  and  upward  in  this  respect. 
Lull  Raymund  Lull.  —  Eugene  Stock,  formerly 

editorial  Secretary  of  the  Church  Missionary 
Society,  declares  "  there  is  no  more  heroic 
figure  in  the  history  of  Christendom  than  that 
of  Raymund  Lull,  the  first  and  perhaps  the 
greatest  missionary  to  Mohammedans." 

"  Of  all  the  men  of  his  century,"  says  another 
student  of  missions,  "  of  whom  we  know,  Ray- 
mund Lull  was  most  possessed  by  the  love  and 
life  of  Christ,  and  most  eager  accordingly  to 
share  his  possession  with  the  world.  It  sets 
forth  the  greatness  of  Lull's  character  the  more 
strikingly  to  see  how  sharply  he  rose  above  the 
world  and  the  Church  of  his  day,  anticipating 
by  many  centuries  moral  standards,  intellectual 
conceptions,  and  missionary  ambitions  to  which 
we  have  grown  only  since  the  Reformation." 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS      77 

Raymund  Lull  was  born  at  Palma  in  the  His  Early 
island  of  Majorca,  in  1235,  of  a  distinguished  Llfe 
Catalonian  family,  and  when  of  age  spent  several 
years  at  the  court  of  the  king  of  Aragon.  He 
was  a  court  poet,  a  skilled  musician,  and  a  gay 
knight  before  he  became  a  scholastic  philosopher 
and  an  ardent  missionary  to  the 'Mohammedans. 
The  manner  of  his  conversion  at  the  age  of 
thirty-two  reminds  one  of  the  experience  of  Saul 
on  his  way  to  Damascus,  and  of  St.  Augustine 
under  the  fig  tree  at  Milan.  After  his  vision  of 
the  Christ,  he  sold  all  his  property,  gave  the 
money  to  the  poor,  and  reserved  only  a  scanty 
allowance  for  his  wife  and  children.  He  entered 
upon  a  thorough  course  of  study,  mastered  the 
Arabic  language,  using  a  Saracen  slave  as 
teacher,  and  began  his  life  work  at  the  age  of 
forty. 

The  work  to  which  he  felt  called  and  for  Call 
which  he  gave  his  life  with  wonderful  persever- 
ance and  devotion  was  threefold.  He  worked 
out  a  philosophical  system  to  persuade  non- 
Christians,  especially  Moslems,  of  the  truth  of 
Christianity  ;  he  established  missionary  colleges 
for  the  study  of  Oriental  languages ;  and  he 
himself  went  and  preached  to  the  Moslems, 
sealing  his  witness  with  his  blood. 

In  his  fifty-sixth  year,  after  vain  efforts  to 
arouse  others  to  a  missionary  enterprise  on  be- 
half of  the  Mohammedans,  he  determined  to  set 
out  alone  and  single-handed  preach  Christ  in 
North  Africa.  On  arriving  at  Tunis,  he  invited 
the  Moslem  literati  to  a  conference.  He  an- 


78 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


nounced  that  he  had  studied  the  arguments  on 
both  sides  of  the  question,  and  was  willing  to 
submit  the  evidences  for  Christianity  and  for 
Islam  to  a  fair  comparison.  The  challenge  was 
accepted,  but  the  Moslems  being  worsted  in 
argument,  and  fanaticism  being  aroused,  Lull 

imprisoned  was  cast  into  a  filthy  dungeon  by  order  of  the 
Sultan,  and  narrowly  escaped  death.  After 
bitter  persecutions,  he  returned  to  Europe, 
where  he  made  other  missionary  journeys. 

In  1307,  he  was  again  on  the  shores  of  Africa, 
and  at  Bugia  in  the  market-place  stood  up  boldly 
and  preached  Christ  to  the  Moslem  populace. 
Once  again  his  pleadings  were  met  with  violence, 
and  he  was  flung  into  a  dungeon,  where  he  re- 
mained for  six  months,  preaching  to  the  few 
who  came,  and  befriended  only  by  some  mer- 
chants of  Genoa  and  Spain,  who  took  pity  on 
the  aged  missionary  of  the  Cross. 

Banished  Although   banished   for   a   second  time,  and 

with  threats  against  his  life  if  he  returned, 
Lull  could  not  resist  the  call  of  the  Love  that 
ruled  his  life.  "  He  that  loves  not,  lives  not," 
said  he,  "  and  he  that  lives  by  the  Life  cannot 
die."  So  in  1314  the  veteran  of  eighty  years 
returned  to  Africa  and  to  his  little  band  of 
Moslem  converts. 

For  over  ten  months  he  dwelt  in  hiding,  talk- 
ing and  praying  with  those  who  had  accepted 
Christ,  and  trying  to  win  others.  Weary  of 
seclusion,  he  at  length  came  forth  into  the  open 
market  and  presented  himself  to  the  people  as 
the  man  whom  they  had  expelled.  It  was 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS      79 


Elijah  showing  himself  to  a  mob  of  Ahabs. 
Lull  stood  before  them  and  threatened  them 
with  God's  wrath  if  they  still  persisted  in  their 
errors.  He  pleaded  with  love,  but  spoke  the 
whole  truth.  Filled  with  fanatic  fury  at  his 
boldness,  and  unable  to  reply  to  his  arguments, 
the  populace  seized  him  and  dragged  him  out 
of  the  town. 

There,    by   the   command,    or   at    least    the  His 
connivance  of  the  Moslem  ruler,  he  was  stoned  Martyrdom 
on  the  30th  of  June,  1315.     And  so  he  became 
the  first  martyr  missionary  to  Islam.      To  be 
stoned   to  death  while   preaching  the  love  of 
Christ  to  Moslems,  that  was  the   fitting   end 
for  such  a  life. 

Yet  his  was  a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness, 
and  his  loneliness  was  the  loneliness  of  leader- 
ship when  there  are  none  awake  to  follow. 
"  One  step  further,"  says  George  Smith,  "  but 
some  slight  response  from  his  church  or  his 
age,  and  Raymund  Lull  would  have  anticipated 
William  Carey  by  exactly  seven  centuries." 

Henry  Martyn.  — Between  the  death  of  Ray-  Henry 
mund  Lull  and  the  year  1806,  when  Henry  Martyn 
Martyn,  the  first  modern  missionary  to  the 
Mohammedans,  reached  India,  five  centuries 
intervened.  During  these  five  hundred  years, 
Islam  was  spreading  in  all  directions  through- 
out Africa,  receiving  a  new  lease  of  life  through 
the  Turk  in  the  Levant  and  taking  root  in  new 
lands  and  on  the  Malaysian  islands,  which  had 
not  even  a  name  or  place  on  the  maps  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  While  there  were  no  missions  to 


80  MOSLEM  LANDS 

Moslems,  the  Moslems  were  themselves  mission- 
aries and  propagandists. 

After  reading  the  story  of  the  spread  of  Islam 
during  these  long  years,  one  cannot  help  feel- 
ing that  the  sloth  of  the  Church  was  the  oppor- 
tunity of  the  false  faith.  After  five  centuries 
of  inactivity,  the  mantle  of  Raymond  Lull  fell 
upon  Henry  Martyn,  saint  and  scholar,  mission- 
ary and  martyr. 

His  "  His   life,"    says    Dr.    George    Smith,    "  is 

influence  the  perpetual  heritage  of  all  English-speak- 
ing Christendom  and  of  the  native  churches 
of  India,  Arabia,  Persia,  and  Anatolia  in  all 
time  to  come."  Born  at  Truro,  Cornwall,  on 
February  18,  1781,  he  entered  Cambridge  in 
1797  and  was  graduated  with  the  highest  aca- 
demical honor  of  "senior  wrangler."  It  was 
his  intention  at  one  time  to  devote  himself 
to  law,  but  the  sudden  death  of  his  father 
and  the  faithful  preaching  of  Mr.  Simeon  led 
to  his  conversion;  and  afterward,  the  perusal 
of  the  life  of  David  Brainerd  brought  the 
decision  to  become  a  missionary. 

Purpose  He  knew  the  struggle  that  was  before  him, 

and  wrote :  "  I  am  going  upon  a  work  exactly 
according  to  the  mind  of  Christ,  and  my 
glorious  Lord,  whose  power  is  uncontrollable,  can 
easily  open  a  way  for  His  feeble  followers 
through  the  thickest  of  the  ranks  of  His  enemies. 
And  now  let  me  go,  smiling  at  my  foes  ;  how 
small  are  human  obstacles  before  this  mighty 
Lord." 

And  going  out  in  that  dauntless  spirit,  with 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS  TO  MOSLEMS      81 

his  heart  on  fire  for  the  benighted  peoples  of 
the  East,  he  sailed  as  chaplain  of  the  East  India 
Company,  and  arrived  in  India  in  1806.  No 
wonder  that  before  his  arrival  and  on  the  long 
journey  he  had  already  studied  Sanscrit,  Per- 
sian, and  Arabic.  He  labored  unceasingly  by 
tongue  and  pen,  by  preaching  and  by  prayer,  Burning  out 
"  to  burn  out  for  God. "  for  God  J 

In  1808  he  completed  a  version  of  the  New 
Testament  in  Hindustani,  and  later  into  other 
languages  of  India.  With  a  special  desire  to 
reach  the  Mohammedans  of  India,  he  perfected 
himself  in  Persian,  the  court  language,  and 
began  a  version  of  the  New  Testament  in  that 
language.  In  1811  he  sailed  from  Calcutta  to 
Bombay  and  for  the  Persian  Gulf,  partly  be- 
cause of  his  broken  health,  but  more  so,  as  is 
evident  from  his  journals,  that  he  might  give 
the  Mohammedans  of  Arabia  and  Persia  the 
word  of  God.  On  his  voyage  from  Calcutta  to 
Bombay,  he  composed  tracts  in  Arabic,  spoke 
with  the  Arab  sailors,  and  studied  the  Koran. 
He  stopped  at  Muscat  on  April  20,  and  we  can 
tell  what  his  thoughts  then  were  in  regard 
to  this  Cradle  of  Islam,  for  a  year  earlier  Journeys 
he  wrote  in  his  diary  :  "  If  my  life  is  spared, 
there  is  no  reason  why  the  Arabic  should  not 
be  done  in  Arabia  and  the  Persian  in  Persia. 
.  .  .  Arabia  shall  hide  me  till  I  come  forth 
with  an  approved  New  Testament  in  Arabic. 
Will  Government  let  me  go  away  for  three 
years  before  the  time  of  my  furlough  arrives  ? 
If  not,  I  must  quit  the  service,  and  I  cannot 


82  MOSLEM  LANDS 

devote  my  life  to  a  more  important  work  than 
that  of  preparing  the  Arabic  Bible." 

He  reached  Shiraz  by  way  of  Bushire  in  June, 
1811,  and  there  revised  his  Persian  translation, 
also  holding  frequent  discussions  with  the  Mos- 
lem Mullahs.  One  year  after  entering  Persia, 
he  left  Shiraz  and  proceeded  to  the  Shah's  camp 
near  Ispahan,  to  lay  before  him  the  translation 
he  had  made. 

With  clamorous  controversy  and  fanatic  ha- 
tred, they  received  his  message  and  his  book. 

His  Witness  "My  book,"  he  writes  in  his  diary,  "which  I  had 
for  Christ  brought,  expecting  to  present  it  to  the  king,  lay  before 
Mirza  Shufi.  As  they  all  rose  up,  after  him,  to  go,  some 
to  the  king,  and  some  away,  I  was  afraid  they  would 
trample  upon  the  book,  so  I  went  in  among  them  to  take 
it  up,  and  wrapped  it  in  a  towel,  before  them  while  they 
looked  at  it  and  me  with  supreme  contempt.  Thus  I 
walked  away  alone,  to  pass  the  rest  of  the  day  in  heat 
and  dirt.  What  have  I  done,  thought  I,  to  merit  all 
this  scorn?  Nothing,  thought  I,  but  bearing  testimony 
to  Jesus.  I  thought  over  these  things  in  prayer,  and 
found  that  peace  which  Christ  hath  promised  to  His 
disciples." 

From  Shiraz  Martyn  went  to  Tabriz  and  there 
arranged  for  the  presentation  of  his  New  Testa- 
ment to  the  Shah  of  Persia,  through  the  Brit- 
ish Ambassador.  Unable  to  recover  strength 
after  much  fever,  he  left  Tabriz  on  horseback, 
September  12,  1812,  with  two  Armenian  ser- 
vants for  England,  via  Constantinople,  a  land 
journey  of  one  thousand  miles.  At  Tokat,  he 
was  compelled  to  stop  from  utter  prostration, 
and  after  a  week's  illness  died,  October  16, 


THE  STOET  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS     83 

1812.     He  had  "  burned  out  for  God,"  but  be-  Last  Jour- 
fore  the  flame  died  it  had  kindled  a  hundred 
lives  and  still  burns  on. 

His  testimony  was  not  wholly  in  vain,  even 
in  those  early  days.  We  read  of  one,  at  least, 
who  accepted  the  truth  and,  as  Martyn  him- 
self said,  "  Even  if  I  never  should  see  a  native 
converted,  God  may  design,  by  my  patience 
and  continuance  in  the  work,  to  encourage  fu- 
ture missionaries."  Only  the  Last  Day  will 
reveal  the  extent  of  the  influence  of  this  man, 
who,  with  no  Christian  to  tend  or  comfort  him 
in  his  last  illness,  laid  down  his  life  for  the 
Mohammedan  world. 

The  monument  erected  to  him  by  the  East 
India  Company  at  Tokat,  bearing  on  its  four 
sides  an  inscription  in  English,  Armenian,  Tur- 
kish, and  Persian,  is  a  fitting  symbol  of  the 
breadth  of  his  life,  which  lay  four-square  to  the 
love  of  God  and  the  service  of  humanity. 

Karl  Gottlieb  Pfander.  —  This  great  mission-  Pfander 
ary,  linguist,  and  controversial  writer,  who  left 
so  wide  and  permanent  an  impression  through- 
out the  Mohammedan  world,  was  born  at  Waib- 
lingen,  Germany,  in  1803.  He  prepared  for 
missionary  work  at  the  Basel  Training  Institu- 
tion, and  was  sent  out  in  1825. 

Although  only  twenty -two  years  old,  he  be- 
gan the  study  of  three  difficult  languages,  Tur- 
kish, Armenian,  and  Persian.  In  1829,  he  went 
to  Bagdad  to  learn  Arabic,  and  two  years  later 
to  Ispahan.  On  a  missionary  journey  to  the 
town  of  Kermanshah,  after  a  discussion  with 


84  MOSLEM  LANDS 

the  Mullahs,  he  came  near  to  winning  the  same 
martyr's  crown  that  Lull  received  at  Bugia. 
He  knew  the  danger  of  publicly  preaching  the 
truths  that  opposed  the  teaching  of  Islam,  but 
putting  his  trust  in  God,  he  preached  Christ 
boldly.  On  this  account  the  enraged  Moslem 
priesthood  held  a  council  that  night,  and  it  was 
announced  the  next  day  in  the  mosques  that 
Life  and  his  books  must  all  be  destroyed  (because  they 
were  bound  in  pigskin,  which  was  unclean), 
and  that  he  must  be  killed.  But  God  spared 
his  life  and  he  labored  on,  first  in  Russia,  then 
in  India,  and  finally  in  Constantinople.  Every- 
where his  tongue  and  pen  were  mighty  forces 
in  the  proclamation  of  the  truth.  He  died  at 
Richmond-on-the-Thames,  December  1,  1865. 
An  Apology  Pfander,  when  expelled  from  Russia  in  1835, 
Christianity  sPent/  much  of  his  time  in  making  a  revised 
edition  of  his  remarkable  book,  uMizan-ul-Hak," 
The  Balance  of  Truth,  and  wrote  some  other 
books  on  Sin,  Salvation,  and  the  Trinity  for 
Moslems.  The  "Mizan-ul-Hak"  is  a  wonderful 
apology  for  Christianity,  and  has  been  trans- 
lated into  many  languages.  It  proves  the  need 
of  a  revelation,  the  integrity  of  the  Bible,  and 
the  necessity  of  the  Atonement.  The  last  chap- 
ter refutes  Islam  and  the  claims  of  Mohammed 
as  Prophet. 

Pfander  felt,  as  many  have  since  his  day, 
that  the  judicious  use  of  such  tactful  literature 
is  one  of  the  best  ways  of  evangelizing  Moslems. 
It  is  often  better  to  persuade  a  Moslem  to  read 
a  portion  of  Scripture  or  a  book  or  tract  than 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS     85 

to  speak  to  him  directly.  Ink  is  cold.  A 
written  argument  appeals  to  the  mind  and  con- 
science in  solitude.  There  is  no  pride  in  an- 
swering back  glibly  or  irreverently  to  a  printed 
page.  It  was  said  of  the  old  Romans  that  "  as 
they  shortened  their  swords  they  lengthened 
their  territories."  So  will  it  be  in  the  conflict 
with  Islam.  The  way  for  the  Church  to  con- 
quer is  to  come  to  close  quarters  with  the  foe. 

And  in  the  irrepressible  conflict  with  Islam,  The  Use  of 
Pf ander's  life  and  writings  teach  the  truth  of  Such  Books 
Wolseley's  war  maxim, "  Find  out  your  enemy's 
weakest  and  most  vulnerable  point  and  hit  him 
there  as  hard  as  you  can  with  all  your  might." 
Islam's  strength  is  to  be  left  alone ;  put  on  the 
defensive,  its  weakness  is  evident  even  to  those 
who  defend  it.  Controversy  is  not  evangeliza- 
tion, and  must  not  take  its  place,  but  in  Moslem 
lands  especially  it  holds  somewhat  the  same 
relation  to  evangelization  that  ploughing  does  to 
seed-sowing.  Books  like  "  Mizan-ul-Hak  "  break 
up  the  soil,  stir  thought,  kill  stagnation,  con- 
vince the  inquirer,  and  lead  him  to  take  a 
decided  stand  for  the  truth. 

The  Gospel  in  North  Africa.  —  The  unbroken  North 
phalanx   lines  of   Moslem   countries  along  the  Afnca 
Mediterranean  were  once  the  centres  of  Chris- 
tian teaching.     Origen,  Tertullian,  Athanasius, 
Cyprian,  and   Augustine  were  all  from  North 
Africa.     But  Islam   swept  across   this   region 
like  a  desert  simoom  and  withered  the  garden 
of  God.     Yet  there  exist  to   the  present  day 
among  these  Berber  or  Kabyle  tribes  of  North 


86  MOSLEM  LANDS 

Africa  various  customs  which  have  come  down 
to  them  through  twelve  long  centuries  of  Mo- 
hammedanism, and  which  speak  of  the  time 
when  they  were  a  Christian  people.  For  ex- 
ample, the  Kabyle  women  refuse  to  wear  the 
veil,  and  certain  of  these  Kabyle  tribes,  al- 
though they  are  Mohammedans,  observe  the 
Christian  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  feasting. 

The  mark  of  a  cross  is  tattooed  on  the  fore- 
head of  many  of  the  boys  and  men  at  Biskra,  as 
well  as  in  other  places.  One  such  Mohamme- 
dan in  the  town  of  Setif,  being  asked  what  was 
the  meaning  of  the  cross  on  his  forehead, 
answered,  "  Jesus."  Miss  Seguin,  in  her  most 
interesting  book,  "  Walks  in  Algiers,"  asserts 
that  the  Kabyle  women  are  in  the  habit  of 
Relics  of  the  tattooing  the  form  of  the  Christian  cross  on 
their  forehead.  Sir  Lambert  Playfair  writes 
regarding  the  Kabyles  of  the  Aures  Mountains, 
which  lie  immediately  to  the  north  of  the 
Sahara  :  "  Their  language  is  full  of  Latin  words 
and  in  their  daily  life  they  retain  customs  un- 
doubtedly derived  from  their  Christian  ances- 
tors. They  observe  December  25  as  a  feast, 
under  the  name  of  Moolid  (the  birth),  and  keep 
three  days  festival  both  at  springtime  and 
harvest.  They  use  the  solar  instead  of  the 
Mohammedan  lunar  year,  and  the  names  of  the 
months  are  the  same  as  our  own." 

Are  not  these  interesting  facts  in  themselves 
a  loud  call  to  send  the  Gospel  to  North  Africa  ? 
Yet  all  this  region  was  neglected  for  twelve 
centuries  in  a  most  unaccountable  way.  In 


THE  STOEY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS      87 

1880  Mr.  George  Pease  began  investigations  in  why  this 
Algiers  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  North  LcmgNeg- 
African  Mission.     At  that  time  there  were  only 
three  Protestant  missionaries  between  Alexandria 
and  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Morocco,  and  not  any 
southward  from  the  Mediterranean  almost  to  the 
Niger  and  the  Congo. 

Now  this  one  mission,  which  works  very  Present 
largely  among  Moslems,  has  eighteen  stations  Forces 
in  Egypt,  Tripoli,  Tunis,  Algiers,  and  Morocco, 
manned  by  eighty-six  missionaries.  A  hospital 
and  dispensary  are  established  at  Tangier  and  a 
dispensary  at  Fez.  There  are  also  other  smaller 
independent  missions  working  in  North  Africa, 
and  very  recently  work  was  begun  in  the  Sudan. 
"  But,"  says  Dr.  Charles  A.  Watson,  "  for  every 
missionary  to  the  Mohammedans  in  Africa  you 
can  find  twenty  missionaries  to  the  pagans  of 
Africa,  and  for  every  convert  from  Mohamme- 
danism in  Africa  I  think  you  can  find  one  thou- 
sand converts  from  paganism  in  Africa.  And 
if  this  does  not  prove  that  the  real  missionary 
problem  in  Africa  is  Mohammedanism,  I  scarcely 
see  how  that  point  could  be  proved  at  all." 

Darkest  Mohammedan  Africa,  nearest  to  Eu- 
rope, is  the  healthiest  part  of  Africa,  and  yet 
has  by  far  the  fewest  mission  stations. 

Morocco  has  an  area  of  about  260,000  square  Morocco 
miles  (equal  to  five  times  the  size  of  England), 
and  a  population  estimated  at  from  4,000,000  to 
8,000,000.  It  is  governed  by  a  Sultan,  whose 
name  is  Abd  ul  Aziz.  The  country  is  divided 
into  districts,  each  of  which  is  under  the  super- 


88  MOSLEM  LANDS 

intendence  of  a  Kaid.  The  semi-independent 
hill  tribes  are  ruled  by  their  own  chiefs,  and 
scarcely  acknowledge  the  authority  of  the 
Sultan.  At  present  the  whole  country  is  dis- 
turbed by  revolutions  and  rebellion. 

Algeria  Algeria  is  the  most  advanced  in  civilization 

of  all  the  countries  of  North  Africa,  having  been 
held  by  the  French  since  1830.  After  great  ex- 
penditure of  life  and  money,  it  is  now  thoroughly 
subject  to  their  rule.  Its  extent  is  about  three 
times  that  of  England,  and  its  population, 
4,500,000,  principally  Moslems,  with  some  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  French,  Spaniards,  Ital- 
ians, Jews,  etc.  The  country  has  a  good  climate 
and  much  beautiful  scenery;  there  are  excellent 
roads  and  extensive  railways. 

Tunis  Tunis  is  under  French  protection,  and  practi- 

cally under  French  rule,  and  has  a  population 
of  about  2,000,000,  nearly  all  of  whom  are 
Mohammedans. 

Tripoli  Tripoli  is  a  province  of  the  Turkish  Empire, 

several  times  larger  than  England.  It  has  a 
population  of  about  1,350,000,  who,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few  thousands,  are  all  Moslems. 
They  are  more  intelligent  and  better  educated 
than  farther  west,  but  much  opposed  to  the 
Gospel. 

The  soil  in  all  these  lands  is  hard,  the  plough- 
ing was  too  late  and  the  sowing  of  the  seed  was 
in  tears,  but  God  is  already  giving  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  future  harvest. 

The  latest  reports  of  the  North  African  Mis- 
sion tell  us  that,  at  almost  all  the  stations,  there 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS      89 

have  in  past  years  been  some  converts.  At  Fez 
there  is  a  band  of  Christians,  nine  or  ten  of 
whom  are  employed  as  colporteurs ;  at  Djemaa 
Sabridj  there  is  another  band,  and  these  meet 
in  two  stone  halls,  one  built  for  men  and  one 
for  women.  At  Tangier,  Alexandria,  Shebin  el- 
Kom,  and  Tunis  there  are  also  some  who  regu- 
larly meet  with  the  missionaries  to  partake  of 
the  Lord's  Supper. 

During  1906  some  thirty  Moslems  were  con-  Results 
verted  at  Fez,  and  two  men  and  one  woman  were 
baptized.  At  Algiers  a  Kabyle  young  man  was 
baptized  and  another  converted.  At  Bizerta  a 
man  was  baptized.  At  Alexandria  a  well-edu- 
cated man,  long  under  instruction  since  his 
conversion,  was  baptized.  Several  young  men 
were  converted  at  Djemaa  Sabridj.  At  Tripoli 
a  convert  of  many  years'  standing  died,  after 
long  proof  of  trusting  Christ  for  salvation  and 
after  preaching  quietly  to  many  others.  At 
Shebin  el-Kom,  on  New  Year's  Eve,  ten  out  of 
a  meeting  of  eighteen  met  around  the  Lord's 
Table  at  midnight,  and  dedicated  themselves 
afresh  to  God  ;  seven  years  ago  there  was  not 
a  single  convert  there.  In  addition  to  these 
pronounced  cases,  most  of  whom  have  had 
to  bear  persecution,  there  are  many  secret 
disciples. 

Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade.  —  Among  strategic 
all    Moslem   lands    to-day,    perhaps   the    most 
notable    strategic   point   is  Egypt.      In  Lower 
Egypt  the  Moslems  form  about  ninety -eight  per 
cent  of  the  population,  and  in  Upper  Egypt  about 


90  MOSLEM  LANDS 

eighty-eight  per  cent.  The  need  of  the  country 
is  therefore  the  need  of  the  Moslems. 

Egypt  is  under  British  rule  and  connected  by 
regular  rail  and  steamboat  service  with  distant 

Cairo  points  in  Africa.     Cairo  is  the  literary  capital 

of  the  Mohammedan  world,  as  Mecca  is  its  reli- 
gious, and  Constantinople  its  political  capital. 
And  the  streams  of  Moslem  thought  through 
the  printed  page  go  out  from  Cairo  to  the  utter- 
most confines  of  the  Moslem  world.  A  book 
sold  at  Cairo  may  be  read  the  next  month  by 
the  camp-fires  of  the  Sahara,  in  the  market-place 
of  Timbuktu,  or  under  the  very  shadow  of  the 
Kaaba. 

Early  Effort  Realizing  this  strategic  importance,  the 
Church  Missionary  Society,  as  early  as  1825, 
sent  a  band  of  five  Basel  men  to  Egypt,  one 
of  them  the  famous  Samuel  Gobat.  There 
were  schools  and  distribution  of  the  Scripture 
and  conversations  with  thoughtful  Copts  and 
Moslems,  but  the  encouragement  was  small. 
Mohammedanism  appeared  unassailable.  The 
first  American  missionaries  reached  Egypt  in 
1854,  and  every  student  of  missions  knows  how 
their  mission  has  spread  along  the  entire  Nile 
Valley  and  grown  in  numbers,  influence,  and 
results  chiefly  among  the  Copts,  but  also  among 
the  Moslems.1  For  example,  last  year  over 
three  thousand  Moslem  pupils  were  attending 
the  American  mission  schools,  and  for  the  past 

1  See  Charles  R.  Watson,  "  Egypt  and  the  Christian  Cru- 
sade," for  the  story  of  this  splendid  mission  and  of  the 
other  missions  in  Egypt. 


THE  STOET  OF  MISSIONS  TO  MOSLEMS     91 

five  years    meetings    for    public    discussion  of  The  Ameri- 
the  difference  between  Islam  and  Christianity  can  Mission 
have  been  held  twice  a  week  in  Cairo.     Spe- 
cial literature  for  Moslems  has  also  been  printed 
and  distributed. 

In  1882  the  Church  Missionary  Society  re- 
sumed its  work,  especially  among  Moslems, 
through  medical  and  literary  agencies,  with 
very  encouraging  results.  Special  effort  is  be- 
ing made  to  reach  the  ten  thousand  students 
of  the  Mohammedan  University,  El  Azhar. 
Other  societies,  too,  are  laboring  in  Egypt,  and 
the  Nile  Mission  Press  is  scattering  leaves  of 
healing.  All  the  Protestant  missions  working  other 
in  Egypt  report  one  hundred  and  seven  per-  Workers 
manent  foreign  workers  regularly  engaged  in 
mission  work.  This  makes  a  parish  of  eighty 
thousand  souls  for  each  missionary.  The  evan- 
gelical church  counts  nearly  nine  thousand 
members,  most  of  them  gathered  from  the 
Copts.  For  every  Protestant  Christian  in 
Egypt  there  are :  one  Jew,  about  three  Roman 
Catholics,  over  twenty-six  Copts,  and  three 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  Moslems. 

Yet  it  is  encouraging  that  Moslem  life  and  The  Future 
thought  in  Egypt  are  undergoing  great  changes. 
The  leaven  of  the  Gospel  is  reaching  the  Mos- 
lem masses,  and  there  are  more  inquirers  and 
converts  from  year  to  year.  The  first  Ecu- 
menical Conference  of  workers  among  Moslems, 
held  in  Cairo  in  1906,  was  a  prophecy  of  the 
day  when  this  stronghold  of  Islam  shall  become 
the  possession  of  Jesus  Christ. 


92  MOSLEM  LANDS 

Turkey  The  Turkish  Empire.  —  The  territory  of  the 

Turkish  Empire  is  well  covered  by  mission 
societies.  The  American  Board  is  the  oldest 
in  the  field,  and  occupies  European  Turkey, 
Asia  Minor,  and  eastern  Turkey.  The  Pres- 
byterian Church  (North)  occupies  Syria.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  work  in  Bul- 
garia, the  Reformed  Presbyterians  in  northern 
Syria,  and  the  Church  Missionary  Society  occu- 
pies Palestine.  These  are  the  chief  agencies 
at  work,  and  count  a  total  of  637  foreign  mis- 
sionaries. Yet,  according  to  the  "  Encyclopaedia 
of  Missions,"  "  the  Church  Missionary  Society  is 
the  only  one  that  has  made  a  special  effort  to 
establish  mission  work  distinctively  for  Moham- 
medans" ! 

indirect  Until  recent  years  the  difficulties  of  the  prob- 

Work  iem  an(j  the  terror  of  the  Turk  seem  to  have 

prevented  direct  work  for  Moslems,  although 
by  printing  press,  schools,  colleges,  and  hos- 
pitals, many  Mohammedans  were  reached  indi- 
rectly and  incidentally. 

"  The  missionaries  have  devoted  a  relatively  small 
part  of  their  time  and  strength  to  the  Moslem  work," 
writes  Robert  E.  Speer.  "  In  Egypt,  Syria,  Turkey  and 
Persia  the  greater  portion  of  the  energy  of  the  mission- 
aries has  been  devoted  to  work  for  Copts,  Maronites, 
Greeks,  Armenians,  Jews  and  Nestorians.  Apart  from 
the  schools  (and  the  number  of  Mohammedan  pupils  in 
schools  in  Turkey  is  almost  inconsiderably  small),  com- 
paratively little  has  been  done.  Through  medical  mis- 
sionaries many  have  been  made  accessible,  and  some 
have  been  reached,  but  we  do  not  have  and  have  not 
had  for  years  a  systematic  and  aggressive,  though  tactful 
and  quiet  campaign  for  the  evangelization  of  Moslems." 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS      93 

The  early  ideals  of  direct  work  for  Moslems,  Early  ideals 
as  held  by  Smith,  Perkins,  Grant,  Pfander,  and 
others,  seem  to  have  been  lost  sight  of,  or  more 
probably  they  were  crushed  by  the  political 
restrictions  and  continued  persecutions  in  Tur- 
key ;  nevertheless,  a  world  of  work  has  been  ac- 
complished in  the  face  of  tremendous  difficulty 
and  determined  opposition  for  the  future  evan- 
gelization of  Moslems. 

"  Protestant  missions  have  given  the  entire  population  Results 
the  Bible  in  their  own  tongue ;  have  trained  hundreds  To-day 
of  thousands  of  readers;  published  thousands  of  useful 
books ;  awakened  a  spirit  of  inquiry ;  set  in  motion  edu- 
cational institutions  in  all  the  sects  of  all  parts  of  the 
Empire,  compelling  the  enemies  of  education  to  become 
its  friends,  and  the  most  conservative  of  orientals  to  de- 
vote mosque  and  convent  property  to  the  founding  of 
schools  of  learning.  They  have  broken  the  fetters  of 
womanhood. . . .  Every  evangelical  church  is  a  living  epis- 
tle to  the  Mohammedans  with  regard  to  the  true  nature  of 
original  apostolic  Christianity.  Encouraged  by  the  spirit 
of  reform  and  modern  progress,  even  the  Mohammedan 
doctors  of  Constantinople  have  issued  orders  that  all  edi- 
tions of  old  Mohammedan  authors  which  recount  the 
fabulous  stories  of  Moslem  saints  and  Welys  are  to  be 
expurgated  or  suppressed  and  not  to  be  reprinted." l 

As  a  single  striking  example,  among  hun-  The  Arabic 
dreds,  of  this  work  for  Moslem  evangelization,  Blble 
take  the  Arabic  version  of  the  Scriptures  by 
Drs.  Eli  Smith  and  Cornelius  Van  Dyck.     This 
arduous  task  was  begun  in  1848  and  not  finally 
completed  until  1865.     The  completion  of  this 
matchless  version  marked  an  epoch  in  missions 

1  Dr.  H.  H.  Jessup  in  the  "  Encyclopaedia  of  Missions," 

p.  757. 


94 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


for  the  Mohammedan  world  greater  than  any 
accession  or  deposition  of  sultans.  That  Bible 
made  modern  missions  to  Arabia,  Egypt,  Tunis, 
Tripoli,  and  the  Arabic-speaking  world  possible. 
For  an  excellent  account  of  all  "the  Chris- 
tian forces  now  at  work  in  the  Turkish  Em- 
pire," see  the  article  with  this  title  in  the 
Missionary  Review  of  the  World  for  October, 
1901,  by  Dr.  Edward  Riggs.  He  concludes 
that  — 

"  The  Christian  forces  now  at  work  are  not  at  present 
in  any  sense  arrayed  against  Mohammedanism.  The 
attitude  of  the  state  religion  would  not  tolerate  that. 
During  the  Crimean  War  the  Turkish  government  was 
so  deeply  indebted  to  the  Christian  powers  of  Western 
Europe  that  there  came  about  a  considerable  relaxation 
of  the  rigidity  of  this  attitude.  Religious  discussion 
was  very  free  between  Mohammedans  and  Christians. 
It  was  to  be  heard  openly  in  the  market-places  and  on 
the  Bosphorus  steamers.  Preaching-places  were  opened 
for  the  presentation  of  the  Gospel  to  Mohammedans, 
with  some  small  net  results.  But  this  could  not  long 
continue,  and  private  persecution  was  later  followed  up 
by  an  ill-disguised  attitude  of  fanaticism  on  the  part  of 
the  authorities.  This  spirit  of  haughty  intolerance  has 
been  steadily  growing  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and 
renders  practically  impossible  all  effort  to  influence  Mo- 
hammedans in  favor  of  Christianity." 

If  this  is  true,  how  much  more  urgent  is  the 
call  to  prayer.  All  things  are  possible  with  G-od. 

Arabia  the  Cradle  of  Islam.  — Except  for  the 
small  colony  of  Sabeans  on  the  Euphrates,  and 
the  Jews  of  Bagdad,  Busrah,  and  Yemen,  all 
Arabia  is  Mohammedan.  With  an  area  of  over 
one  million  square  miles  and  four  thousand 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS  TO  MOSLEMS     95 

miles  of  coast,  the  population  is  about  eight  Political 
millions.     Three-fourths   of    Arabia   is   under  Dfrisioii 
independent  rulers,  many  of  them  under  Brit- 
ish protection.     The  remainder  belongs,  at  least 
nominally,  to  Turkey.     Although  Christianity 
flourished  in  Arabia  before  Mohammed's  time, 
the  form  of  the  faith  was  not  pure  enough  to 
be  permanent,  and  the  Arabian  Christians,  as 
far  as  we  know,  did  not  have  the  Bible  in  their 
own  tongue. 

Mohammed's  dying  injunction  was  that  his 
native    country  might   be   inhabited  solely  by 
"  believers,"  and  it  was  rigorously  enforced  in 
the  caliphate  of  Omar.     Even  before  his  death, 
the    Christians   of   Arabia   had,  through   force 
or   gain   of    worldly   goods,    become   apostate. 
Wright   says,  "  Whether   any  Christians  were 
left  in  the  peninsula  at  the  death  of  Moham 
med,  may  be  reasonably  doubted."     This  was 
in  632  A.D.  From  that   date   until   the    day  of  Long  Neg- 
Keith  Falconer,  the  whole  of  Arabia  was  utterly,  lect 
continuously,  and   inexplicably    neglected  by  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  its  work  of  evangelization. 
The  false  prophet  held  undisputed  sway  in  the 
whole  peninsula. 

The   story   of   Ion    Keith   Falconer's   life  is  Keith  Fai- 
well  known.     He   was,  in   the   true   sense   of  coner 
the   word,   the   pioneer   missionary   of   Arabia 
(for  the   Roman  Catholic  mission,  founded  at 
Aden,  in  1840,  was  not  intended  to  reach  the 
Arabs,  and   even   now   confines   its   efforts   to 
the     mixed    population    of     Steamer     Point). 
Keith   Falconer   called   attention   to   the   neg- 


96 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Mackay's 
Appeal 


The  Re- 
sponse 


lected  Arabs  by  the  appeals  of  his  voice  and 
pen  and  the  sacrifice  of  his  life.  Being  dead, 
he  yet  speaks  to  all  Christendom  of  that  vast 
region  "shrouded  in  almost  utter  darkness," 
whose  "  millions  suffer  the  horrors  of  Islam," 
and  pleads  for  Arabia.  The  mission  so  nobly 
begun  has  been  faithfully  continued  by  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  but,  from  lack  of 
laborers,  the  work  has  not  yet  extended  beyond 
Sheikh  Othman  (Aden)  except  through  the 
potent  influence  of  their  hospital. 

The  Danish  Evangelical  Church  has  recently 
sent  out  missionaries  who  cooperate  with  the 
Scotch  Mission  at  Sheikh  Othman  and  plan  to 
occupy  some  other  station. 

From  Usambiro,  Central  Africa,  Alexander 
M.  Mackay,  1888,  sent  forth  his  remarkable 
appeal  for  a  mission  to  the  Arabs  of  Oman. 
It  was  the  trumpet-call  to  duty  for  the  aged 
Bishop  French.  After  thirty-seven  years  of 
mission  labor  in  India,  he  resigned  his  bishop- 
ric at  Lahore,  "moved  by  an  inexpressible 
desire  to  preach  to  the  Arabs."  He  arrived  at 
Muscat  on  February  9,  1891,  and  died  on  May 
14  of  the  same  year.  His  plans  never  reached 
execution,  and  he  never  reached  the  interior,  the 
goal  of  his  desires.  But  the  few  months  he  spent 
at  Muscat  were  full  of  the  work  of  faith  and  the 
patience  of  hope,  as  well  as  the  labor  of  love 
in  wonderful  self-denial.  Was  it  to  shame  the 
Church  that  a  lonely,  aged  man  was  permitted 
to  raise  the  King's  banner  in  response  to  Mac- 
kay's  plea,  and  to  die  in  doing  it  ? 


STORY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS      97 

The  Arabian  Mission  of  the  Reformed  Church  The  Arabian 
in  America  (1890)  occupies  Busrah,  Bahrein,  and  M*881011 
Muscat  on  the  Persian  Gulf.  It  was  at  Busrah 
that  Kamil  Abd  el  Messiah,  a  Moslem  convert 
of  the  Syrian  mission,  laid  down  his  life  in 
earnest  witness  for  the  truth.  He  was  the  first 
Mohammedan  convert  who  preached  Christ  to 
the  Arabs  of  Hadramaut  and  East  Arabia. 
Beyond  Busrah  this  mission  has  out-stations 
at  Nasariyeh  and  Amara  northward,  and  at 
Nachl  in  Oman. 

Bahrein  was  entered  in  1892,  and  offers 
splendid  opportunities  because  of  the  great 
freedom  enjoyed.  It  now  has  a  hospital,  a 
chapel,  and  school  building.  Muscat  station 
owes  its  start  and  early  development  to  the 
devotion,  practical  energy,  and  patient  endur- 
ance of  Peter  John  Zwemer.  Alone  he  pene-  Peter  J. 
trated  far  inland  to  plant  the  banner,  which  Zwemer 
fell  from  the  dead  hand  of  Bishop  French,  on 
the  heights  of  Jebel  Achdar.  In  the  face  of 
stupendous  difficulties  and  a  most  trying  cli- 
mate, he  persevered  in  holding  the  fort,  while 
appealing  in  vain  for  the  sinews  of  war  and  a 
comrade  in  arms.  He  translated  a  tract  for  Mos- 
lems, set  it  up  in  type,  and  struck  off  on  a  hand- 
press,  turned  by  one  of  his  band  of  rescued  slave 
lads,  the  first  Christian  leaflet  ever  printed  in 
Arabia.  The  school  for  rescued  slaves  was  the 
outcome  of  his  individual  effort  and  enterprise. 
Worn  out  by  fevers  and  six  years  of  toil,  he  went 
on  furlough  ;  after  a  wearisome  journey  and 
three  months  in  the  hospital  at  New  York, 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Other  Wit- 
nesses 


Open  Doors 
in  Persia 


ever  looking  forward  to  recovery  and  to  further 
service  in  Arabia  with  patient  expectancy  (so 
unwilling  was  he  to  lay  off  the  harness),  he  fell 
asleep  on  October  18,  1898. 

In  addition  to  those  named,  Arabia  holds  as  a 
heritage  of  promise  the  graves  of  other  American 
missionaries :  George  E.  Stone,  Harry  Wiersum, 
Dr.  Marion  Wells  Thorns,  and  Mrs.  Jessie  Vail 
Bennett.  The  Arabian  Mission  of  the  Reformed 
Church  in  America,  organized  in  1889,  now  has 
nineteen  missionaries  on  the  field,  with  twenty 
native  helpers.  There  have  been  converts  and 
baptisms,  but  the  full  harvest  is  not  yet,  although 
the  work  is  encouraging,  and  doors  are  opening 
into  the  interior. 

Missions  in  Persia.  —  In  many  respects  Persia 
presents  a  weak  point  for  our  conquest  of  Islam. 
The  Persians  themselves  are  sectarians  and  the 
enemies  of  the  orthodox  school  of  Islam  ;  Per- 
sia has  always  been  Aryan  rather  than  Semitic 
in  its  thought,  and  therefore  is  more  tolerant  and 
willing  to  discuss  religious  matters ;  and  in  no 
Moslem  land  are  there  so  many  sects  and  schools 
of  thought,  rationalists  and  mystics.  Add  to 
this  that  Persia  has  for  the  last  fifty  years  been 
convulsed  by  the  new  religion  of  the  Bab  and 
its  daughter  faith,  Behaism — both  halfway  stop- 
ping-places toward  Christianity,  or  away  from 
it. 

Persia  has  an  area  of  648,000  square  miles  and 
a  population  of  9,500,000.  Of  these,  8,800,000 
are  Moslems. 

After  the  pioneer  journey  of  Henry  Martyn. 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS      99 

and  the  work  of  Pfander  and  his  associates, 
Frederick  Haas,  another  German  missionary, 
came  to  Tabriz  in  1833,  and  in  1838  Dr.  William 
Glenn,  a  Scottish  missionary,  began  the  transla- 
tion of  the  Old  Testament  into  Persian,  thus 
completing  the  work  begun  by  Henry  Martyn. 
In  1869,  Rev.  Robert  Bruce,  D.D.,  located  at  Robert 
Ispahan  and  awakened  a  deep  interest  in  the  Bruce 
evangelization  of  Persia,  so  that  in  1876  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  opened  a  station 
at  Julfa,  a  suburb  of  Ispahan.  The  wonderful 
growth  of  this  mission  in  one  man's  lifetime  is 
thus  described  in  the  Church  Missionary  He- 
view  :  — 

"  When  Bishop  Stuart  went  to  Julfa  in  1894  that  was  Wonderful 
the  only  Church  Missionary  Society  station  in  the  Shah's  Success 
dominions,  and  it  was  an  Armenian  station  outside  the 
Moslem  citadel.  Now  Ispahan  itself  is  occupied,  and  so 
are  Yezd  and  Kirman  and  Shiraz,  all  ancient  and  impor- 
tant cities,  and  there  are  bands  of  converts  in  all  of  them. 
Over  a  hundred  adult  converts  have  been  baptized  in 
Persia  since  the  new  century  commenced.  In  Ispahan 
last  Christmas  Day  some  sixty  converts  knelt  together  at 
the  Lord's  Supper,  a  sight  to  cheer  the  heart  indeed, 
to  see  converts  from  Mohammedanism,  Babism,  and 
Parsiism,  kneeling  side  by  side  with  Armenians  and 
Europeans  and  receiving  the  tokens  of  the  Saviour's 
dying  love. 

"  Dr.  Carr,  who  has  just  come  home  from  Ispahan,  tells 
the  committee  how  the  workers  are  cheered  by  the  evi- 
dent signs  of  reality  and  depth  of  conviction  in  the  con- 
verts, especially  the  women.  They  have  borne  the  most 
deadly  persecution,  and  they  show  a  readiness  to  bear 
the  loss  of  all  things  in  loyalty  to  Christ.  Moslem  oppo- 
sition is  yielding  before  Christian  benevolence,  and  the 
medical  mission  is  now  not  only  a  tolerated  institution  in 


100  MOSLEM  LANDS 

Ispahan,  where  the  work  was  a  few  years  since  so  bitterly 
opposed,  but  it  is  welcomed.  Mohammedans  themselves 
subscribe  nearly  £100  a  year  toward  its  up-keep,  and  gave 
lately  a  further  £200  to  extend  the  hospital  buildings, 
the  land  on  which  they  stand  having  been  provided  by  a 
leading  Mohammedan." 

The  Ameri-  In  1827  Dr.  Joseph  Wolf  visited  Persia,  and 
can  Mission  ag  a  resuj^  of  nis  writmgs  the  American  Board 
determined  to  begin  work  among  the  Nestorians. 
In  1834  Rev.  J.  L.  Merrick  went  out  under  the 
same  Board  and  attempted  work  among  Mos- 
lems, but  the  way  was  not  open.  For  many 
years  the  work  of  the  American  missionaries 
was  chiefly  among  the  Nestorians.  In  1871  this 
mission  came  under  the  Presbyterian  Board,  and 
in  more  recent  years  there  has  been  work  also 
among  Moslems.  Some  have  professed  Christ 
openly  and  several  have  suffered  martyrdom, 
among  them  Mirza  Ibrahim.1 

In  Eastern  Persia  this  mission  occupies  Te- 
heran, Kazvin,  Resht,  and  Hamadan,  with  many 
out-stations  ;  in  Western  Persia,  Urumia  and 
Tabriz.  The  report  of  the  mission  for  1906 
contains  some  very  interesting  accounts  of 
evangelistic  work  among  Moslems.  It  is  the 
day  of  opportunity  in  Persia,  and  there  is  cry- 
ing need  for  reinforcements. 

Moslem  Work  for  Moslems  in  India.  —  The  study  of 

India  missions  in  India,    "  Lux  Christi,"  has  so  well 

covered  the  general  work  of   missions  that  a 

brief  summary  of  work  among  Mohammedans 

1See  sketch  of  his  life  in  Robert  E.  Speer's  u  Men  who 
Overcame." 


THE  STOEY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS     101 

must  suffice  here.  Henry  Martyn  was  the  fore- 
runner of  many  other  missionaries  in  India  who 
endeavored  to  give  the  Gospel  to  the  Moslem  as 
well  as  to  the  Hindu.  The  Scriptures  were  Work  of 
translated  into  Bengali,  Hindi,  Punjabi,  Kash-  FreParation 
miri,  Sindhi,  and  Baluchi  to  reach  every  Moslem 
tongue  of  India.  A  large  vernacular  literature 
specially  suited  to  Moslems  was  prepared.  And 
through  hospitals,  schools,  colleges,  and  itinerant 
preaching,  many  Mohammedans  were  reached. 
Some  societies  have  made  special  effort  in  this 
direction,  among  them  the  Church  Missionary 
Society,  the  American  Presbyterian  Missions  in 
North  India,  and  the  Australian  Baptist  Mission. 

In  more  recent  years  a  few  missionaries  have 
been  set  apart  specially  by  their  societies  for  this 
important  work,  as  it  has  become  evident  that 
the  successful  worker  among  Moslems  must 
know  Arabic  and  the  Koran.  But  on  the  whole, 
even  in  India,  the  Mohammedans  have  been 
neglected  more  than  any  other  race  or  religion 
among  its  millions  of  people.  This  is  evident 
from  the  literature  of  missions  on  India,  which 
often  gives  scant  notice  of  the  Mohammedan 
problem;  but  it  is  even  more  evident  from  the 
fact  that  there  are  so  few  societies  or  mission- 
aries that  give  themselves  wholly  to  this  work. 
Is  there  not  a  call  to-day  for  a  special  mission  The  Present 
or  special  mission  work  on  a  large  scale  to  reach  Cal1 
the  largest  Mohammedan  population  in  any  land 
—  62,458,077  souls  —  larger  than  that  of  all 
Mohammedan  Africa  ? 

The  results  of  work  for  Moslems  have  been 


102 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Indian  Con- 
verts 


The  East 
Indies 


considerable.  Indirectly  the  whole  attitude  of 
Islam  toward  Christianity  has  changed.  The 
literati  have  abandoned  controversial  positions 
once  thought  impregnable,  and  thousands  are 
studying  the  Scriptures.  And  there  have  been 
many  converts. 

"  The  accessions  from  Islam,"  says  Dr.  Wherry,  "espe- 
cially in  northern  India,  have  been  continuous  during  all 
the  years  since  the  death  of  Henry  JVlartyn.  One  here 
and  another  there  has  been  added  to  the  Christian 
Church,  so  that  now  as  one  looks  over  the  rolls  of 
Church  membership,  he  is  surprised  to  find  so  many 
converts  from  Islam,  or  the  children  and  children's  chil- 
dren of  such  converts.  In  the  North,  especially  in  the 
Punjab,  and  the  Northwest  Frontier  Province,  every  con- 
gregation has  a  representation  from  the  Moslem  ranks. 
Some  of  the  churches  have  a  majority  of  their  member- 
ship gathered  from  among  the  Moslems.  In  a  few  cases 
there  has  been  something  like  a  movement  among  Mos- 
lems towards  Christianity,  and  a  considerable  number 
have  come  out  at  one  time.  But  perhaps  the  fact  which 
tells  most  clearly  the  story  of  the  advance  of  Christianity 
among  Moslems  in  India  is  this,  that  among  the  native 
pastors  and  Christian  preachers  and  teachers  in  North 
India,  there  are  at  least  two  hundred  who  were  once 
followers  of  Islam." 

Gospel  Triumphs  in  the  Dutch  East  Indies.  — 
It  has  been  well  said  that  "  the  Moslem  propa- 
ganda has  accomplished  its  masterpiece  in  the 
East  Indies."  Entering  this  region  only  four 
hundred  years  ago,  the  result  is  that  out  of  a 
total  population  in  Java  of  twenty-eight  and  a 
half  million,  twenty-four  and  a  quarter  million 
once  heathen  have  become  Moslems.  And  in 
Sumatra,  among  its  four  million  inhabitants, 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS  TO  MOSLEMS     103 

three   and  a  half  million  profess  the  religion 
of   Islam.     Similar  conditions   exist,  or  would 
soon  have  existed  in  Celebes,  Borneo,  and  the 
other  islands,  had  Christian   missions  not  en- 
tered and  raised  barriers  to  the   Moslem  con- 
quest.    Yet  it  is  on   these  very  islands,  Java  Signal  Tri- 
and  Sumatra,  that  the   most   signal   triumphs  umPhs 
of  the  Gospel  have  been  won  among  Moslems 
and  the  greatest  number  of  converts  gathered 
into  the  Church  of  Christ. 

The  population  of  the  entire  Malay  Archi- 
pelago is  equal  to  that  of  South  America,  yet 
there  are  few  parts  of  the  world  less  known  to 
the  average  student  of  missions.  The  records 
of  the  trials  and  triumphs  here  are  largely 
locked  up  in  the  Dutch  and  German  languages, 
for  the  most  populous  islands  are  Dutch  posses- 
sions, and  the  work  is  mostly  carried  on  by  their 
societies  and  those  of  Germany. 

Sumatra  and  Java  are  the  principal  and  the  Sumatra 
typical  fields  of  work  for  Moslems  in  Malay- 
sia. A  Baptist  missionary  reached  Sumatra  as 
early  as  1820,  and  in  1834  Munson  and  Lyman 
went  out  under  the  American  Board,  but  were 
brutally  murdered.  The  Rhenish  Missionary 
Society  entered  the  field  in  1861  and  has  had 
marvellous  success.  Other  societies  from  the 
Netherlands  also  labor  on  the  island.  Dr. 
Schreiber,  the  Inspector  of  the  Rhenish  Mis- 
sion, says,  "  I  do  not  know  if  there  is  any  other 
part  of  the  mission  field,  with  the  exception  of 
some  parts  of  Java,  where  such  large  numbers 
of  Mohammedans  have  been  won  for  Christ  as 


104  MOSLEM  LANDS 

among  the  Battaks  of  Sumatra."  The  attitude 
of  the  Dutch  government,  which  was  once  bit- 
terly hostile  or  critically  neutral,  has,  in  recent 
years,  greatly  changed,  and  is  now  favorable  to 
missions.  In  Sumatra  the  issue  between  Chris- 
tianity and  Islam  was  boldly  faced  from  the 
outset;  there  was  neither  fear  nor  compromise 
in  mission  methods,  and  this,  together  with  con- 
siderable freedom  to  preach,  perhaps  accounts 
for  the  great  success  in  winning  converts. 
Borneo  A  mutiny  in  Borneo  was  the  means  of  start- 

ing this  wonderful  mission  among  the  Battak 
people.  In  May,  1859,  heathen  Dyaks,  incited 
and  led  by  Mohammedan  fanatics,  attacked 
the  Borneo  mission,  killing  seven  missionaries, 
several  children,  and  destroying  schools  and 
churches.  Four  little  children  from  one  mis- 
sionary's home  were  taken  captive  to  the  jungle 
and  treated  cruelly,  but  afterward  ransomed. 
The  survivors  of  the  mission  left  for  Sumatra 
and  began  work  among  heathen  and  Moham- 
medans there  with  many  early  hardships,  but 
finally  with  great  success. 

Hester  Hester  Needham,  the  Saint  of  Sumatra,  was 

Needhara       one  of  those  wno  u  ma(je  Up  that  which  was 

behind  of  the  sufferings  of  Jesus  Christ "  for 
His  elect  among  the  Mohammedans.  The  story 
of  her  life  is  like  that  of  Henry  Martyn,  Allen 
Gardiner,  or  David  Brainerd.  Her  letters  and 
diaries  glow  with  love  for  souls  and  show 
clear  evidence  that  she  walked  with  God.  Her 
foreign  missionary  labor  began  when  she  heard 
of  "  a  place  in  Sumatra  where  for  forty  years 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS     105 

the  heathen  had  been  asking  for  a  missionary, 
and  none  have  gone,  and  now  the  Mohamme- 
dans are  going,  but  no  missionary  for  Christ." 
This  was  her  call,  and  she  at  once  went  to  Ger- 
many to  offer  herself  to  the  Barmen  Mission. 

She  entered  upon  the  work  among  the  Bat-  A  Noble 
taks  of  Sumatra  at  the  age  of  forty-six,  and  for  Llfe 
eight  years  she  labored  there.     Then,  from  a 
life  of  arduous  toil,  in  the  teeth  of  extreme 
physical  suffering  and  debility,  she  entered  her 
eternal  rest  on  May  12,  1897,  in  her  own  words, 
"  Thankful  to  stay,  but  delighted  to  go." 

Money,  social  position,  and  gifts,  and  even  a 
sphere  of  great  usefulness  she  forsook,  knowing 
that  her  place  could  be  supplied,  and  at  an  age 
when  many  consider  their  working  days  over, 
and  already  suffering  from  spinal  complaint, 
she  braved  a  life  of  incessant  hardship  and 
humiliation,  in  a  trying  climate.1 

In  Sumatra  the  Rhenish  Mission  now  has  Results 
6500  converted  Moslems,  1150  catechumens,  80 
churches,  5  native  pastors,  70  lay  preachers, 
while  they  baptized  153  Mohammedans  in  1906. 
In  the  district  of  Si  Perok,  a  Christian  convert 
from  Islam  has  become  chief  in  place  of  a 
Mohammedan. 

Java  is   the   richest   and  largest   of    Dutch  java 
colonial    possessions.     Six    Dutch    missionary 
societies  labor  on  the  island,  which  has  a  dense 
population  of  28,746,688;  of  these,  24,270,600 
are    Moslems.     Surely   a    large    and    difficult 

1 "  A  Saint  in  Sumatra,"  Missionat-y  Review  of  the  World, 
January,  1900. 


106  MOSLEM  LANDS 

field.  Yet  by  preaching,  the  sale  of  Scriptures, 
and  medical  work,  great  numbers  have  been 
won  to  Christ.  The  work  in  Sumatra  is  a 
miracle  of  missions,  but  in  Java  there  have 
been  still  greater  numerical  results.  Accord- 
ing to  latest  statistics,  there  are  now  living  in 
Java  over  18,000  who  have  been  converted  to 
Christianity  from  Islam,  and  the  converts  from 
Islam  amount  to  between  300  and  400  adults 
every  year.1 

Results  Although  living  in  the  larger  coast  cities,  the 

missionaries  have  succeeded  in  organizing  many 
churches  in  the  interior  of  the  island  for  Mos- 
lems. The  average  number  of  missionaries  for 
the  past  twenty-five  years  who  devote  all  their 
attention  to  the  Mohammedans  was  only  about 
twenty  for  this  island.  Surely  God's  rich  bless- 
ing has  rested  on  their  labors  in  giving  so  abun- 
dant a  harvest,  and  these  miracles  of  grace 
prove  that  the  Gospel  is  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation  to  the  Mohammedan  as  well  as  to  the 
heathen  world. 

HELPS  FOR  LEADERS 
Lesson  Aim : 

To  make  vivid  the  long  and  general  neglect  of  the 
Church,  and  the  work  of  preparation  now  accomplished ; 
to  show  also  that  work  for  Moslems,  though  difficult,  is 
not  hopeless. 
Scripture  Lesson : 

Ps.  2;  1  Sam.  17:4-11;  41-50. 
Suggestive  Questions : 

1.   Trace    Raymund   Lull's    missionary   journeys   on 
the  map. 

i  "The  Mohammedan  World  of  To-day, "  p.  237. 


THE  STOEY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS      107 

2.  In  what  sense  were  the  Crusades  a  missionary 
movement  ? 

3.  Give  an  account  of  Henry  Martyn's  last  journey 
through  Persia. 

4.  What   influence   has   Robert   College  exerted  on 
Turkish  Mohammedanism  ? 

5.  Give  the  story  of  the  Arabic  Bible  translation. 

6.  Give  the  story  of  Bishop  French  at  Muscat. 

7.  Name   all   the   missionary   societies    laboring   in 
Persia  and  Arabia. 

8.  Who  was  Imad-ud-Din?  Mirza  Ibrahim?  Kamil? 

9.  What  are  the  opportunities  for  medical  work  in 
Turkey? 

10.   Where  are  the  chief  mission  printing-presses  for 
the  Mohammedan  World  located  ? 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Herbert  Birk's  "Life  and  Correspondence  of  Bishop 
T.  V.  French."  London,  1895.  2  vols. 

H.  H.  Jessup,  "  The  Setting  of  the  Crescent  and  the 
Rising  of  the  Cross,  or  Kamil  Abd  ul  Messiah."  Phila- 
delphia, 1898. 

Robert  Sinker,  "Memorial  of  Ion  Keith  Falconer." 
Cambridge,  1886. 

George  Smith,  "Life  of  Henry  Martyn,  Scholar  and 
Saint,  First  Modern  Missionary  to  the  Moslems." 

W.  A.  Essery,  "  The  Ascending  Cross :  Some  Results 
of  Missions  in  Bible  Lands,  1854-1904."  The  Religious 
Tract  Society,  London,  1905. 

Andrew  Watson,  "  The  American  Mission  in  Egypt." 
Pittsburg,  Penn.,  1897. 

Cyrus  Hamlin,  "My  Life  and  Times."  New  York, 
1893. 

H.  O.  D wight,  "  Constantinople  and  its  Problems." 

Charles  R.  Watson,  "  Egypt  and  the  Christian  Cru- 
sade." Philadelphia,  1907. 

E.  M.  Wherry,  "  Islam  and  Christianity  in  India  and 
the  Far  East."  New  York,  1907. 


108  MOSLEM  LANDS 

Samuel  G.  Wilson,  "  Persian  Life  and  Customs."  New 
York,  1895. 

James  L.  Barton  and  others,  "  The  Mohammedan 
World  of  To-day."  New  York,  1906. 

Annie  Van  Sommer,  "  Our  Moslem  Sisters."  (A  Sym- 
posium.) New  York,  1907. 

J.  Rutherford  and  E.  H.  Glenny,  « The  Gospel  in 
North  Africa."  London,  1900. 

Mary  R.  S.  Bird,  "  Persian  Women  and  their  Creed." 
C.  M.  S.,  London,  1899. 

S.  M.  Zwenier,  "  Raymund  Lull :  First  Missionary  to 
the  Moslems."  New  York,  1905.  (Funk  and  Wagnalls.) 
"Arabia  the  Cradle  of  Islam."  New  York,  1900.  (Re- 
vell.)  "Islam:  A  Challenge  to  Faith."  New  York,  1907. 
(S.V.M.) 

ILLUSTRATIVE   SELECTIONS 

A  HUMAN  DOCUMENT 

DEAR  EDITOR  :  —  I  have  read  with  astonishment  your 
leading  article  in  the  Egyptian  Gazette  of  the  7th  inst. 
on  "Missions  to  Mohammedans,"  in  which  you  conclude 
that  Egypt's  great  need  is  not  religion  but  sanitation.  I 
don't  want  to  enter  into  a  controversy  with  you,  but 
would  like  to  tell  you  in  a  few  words  my  own  experience 
as  a  Moslem.  I  was  a  strict  follower  of  the  religion  of 
Islam,  and  was  educated  thoroughly  in  all  its  precepts,  and 
that  in  lands  where  no  other  religion  is  known  or  taught, 
the  Hadramaut  and  the  Yemen.  Eventually  I  became 
Kadi  al  Islam,  and  so  zealous  was  I,  that  not  only  did  I 
observe  all  that  was  imposed  upon  me  by  the  Koran,  but 
many  things  in  addition,  such  as  the  pilgrimage  to 
Medina,  the  opening  of  my  house  to  all  Moslem  strangers, 
the  spending  of  many  of  the  nights  of  Ramadan  in  prayer 
and  reading  of  the  Koran,  and  the  supplying  of  the  wants 
of  the  poor  to  the  utmost  of  my  ability. 

All  that  I  did,  in  order  to  find  peace  with  God  and  rest 
for  my  soul ;  but  the  only  result  was  increased  fear  and 
trouble  of  conscience,  till  I  could  find  no  pleasure  in  any- 
thing. I  thought  that  this  state  must  arise  from  our  neg- 
lecting, as  Moslems,  the  sacred  duty  imposed  upon  us  by 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS     109 

our  religion,  of  waging  war  against  the  unbelievers,  and 
as  I  had  not  the  power  to  do  that,  I  tried  to  make  amends 
for  it  by  hating  them  with  all  my  heart,  till  I  could  hardly 
bear  the  sight  of  a  Christian. 

And  so  I  remained  without  hope  and  without  rest, 
until,  coming  to  Aden,  I  met  a  friend  who  had  a  very  dif- 
ferent feeling  towards  me  and  my  fellow-Moslems  from 
what  you  have.  Having  tasted  the  joy  and  blessing  of  a 
living  Saviour,  he  was  anxious  that  all  the  world  should 
know  Him  too  ;  for  the  Christian  religion  differs  from  all 
other  religions  in  the  world  in  this,  that  it  consists  in  the 
knowledge  of  a  person,  a  living  person,  and  not  in  the 
holding  of  dogmas  and  creeds.  He  preached  to  me  Jesus, 
and  I  believed  in  Him  as  my  Saviour,  and  found  peace.  It 
meant  that  I  lost  everything,  that  my  name  was  defamed, 
my  life  attempted,  and  I  became  a  poor  outcast  and 
wanderer  from  my  native  land.  Everybody  forsook  me, 
and  I  have  been  at  times  without  bread  to  eat,  but  in  the 
midst  of  it  all  my  heart  has  been  full  of  joy  and  love  to 
God  and  all  men,  especially  my  own  people. 

I  am  afraid,  dear  sir,  from  your  article,  that  you  know 
not  yet  in  your  heart  the  presence  of  this  Saviour,  or  you 
would  have  a  better  Gospel  to  preach  than  the  gospel  of 
sanitation.  Is  it  possible  that  I,  the  poor  Moslem,  have 
entered  into  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  before  you,  the 
learned  citizen  of  a  Christian  nation  ?  even  as  He  said  of 
old  to  the  Pharisees,  "the  publicans  and  harlots  shall 
enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  before  you." 
Yours  sincerely, 

SALEM  EL  KHAMKY. 

SUEZ,  February  9,  1905. 

"  WHO  BEING  DEAD  YET  SPEAKETH." 

"  While  vast  continents  are  shrouded  in  almost  utter  dark- 
ness, and  hundreds  of  millions  suffer  the  horrors  of  heathen- 
ism and  of  Islam,  the  burden  of  proof  rests  on  you  to  show 
that  the  circumstances  in  which  God  has  placed  you  were  meant 
by  God  to  keep  you  out  of  the  foreign  field."  —  ION  KEITH 
FALCONER,  Cambridge  University  Scholar  and  Pioneer 
Missionary  in  Arabia. 


110  MOSLEM  LANDS 


THE  OLD  ARGUMENT  OF  FORCE  AT  CAIRO 

"Mr.  Michael  Mansoor,  a  convert  from  Mohammedan- 
ism, who  is  in  the  service  of  our  mission,  and  who  has 
been  doing  most  acceptable  work  among  Moslems,  was 
attending,  by  invitation,  a  Mohammedan  literary  society. 
At  the  invitation  of  the  president  of  the  society,  he  gave  a 
brief  address,  praising  the  object  of  the  society.  There 
were  about  a  thousand  present.  He  concluded  his  ad- 
dress with  a  few  verses  of  poetry  of  his  own  composition, 
at  which  he  was  loudly  cheered.  He  was  scarcely  seated 
when  a  sheikh  of  the  Azhar,  the  Mohammedan  University 
of  Cairo,  jumped  to  his  feet  and  commenced  speaking, 
immediately  bringing  up  the  subject  of  religion,  praising 
Islam  and  making  invidious  comparisons  with  Christian- 
ity. When  he  sat  down,  Mr.  Mansoor  leaned  over  and 
whispered  in  his  ear  that  if  circumstances  permitted,  he 
would  not  hesitate  to  reply. 

"  The  sheikh  then  arose,  and  repeated  in  the  hearing 
of  the  audience  what  Mr.  Mansoor  had  whispered  to  him. 
Then  Mr.  Mansoor  arose  and  made  an  explanation,  saying 
that  this  society  is  not  for  the  discussion  of  religious  ques- 
tions, but  if  the  sheikh  wished  to  discuss  with  him  any  of 
these  subjects,  he  might  come  to  the  hall  of  the  American 
Mission  on  Monday  night,  when  and  where  there  were 
such  discussions.  The  sheikh  invited  every  person  he 
met  for  the  following  four  days,  without  our  missionaries 
having  any  suspicion  of  what  was  being  concocted. 

"On  the  following  Monday,  before  the  hour  for  the 
meeting  had  fully  arrived,  a  crowd  had  gathered  at  the 
mission  building.  The  doors  of  the  chapel  were  opened, 
and  the  room  was  soon  packed,  with  men  standing  and 
sitting  in  the  windows ;  the  platform  was  packed  as  well. 
Still  they  came,  pressing  in  and  crowding  upon  one  an- 
other, so  that  those  who  had  occupied  the  seats  got  up  and 
stood  on  them.  They  broke  in  the  back  door  of  the  court 
and  filled  the  court  behind ;  there  must  have  been  at  least 
one  thousand  people. 

"It  was  manifestly  impossible  to  keep  such  a  crowd 
quiet,  and  they  were  in  no  mood  for  a  calm  religious  dis- 


THE  STORY  OF  MISSIONS   TO  MOSLEMS      111 

cussion.  The  missionaries  realized  that  for  Mr.  Mansoor 
to  attempt  his  usual  meeting  would  doubtless  occasion  a 
riot.  The  word  was  passed  that  a  meeting,  under  the 
circumstances,  was  impossible.  But  the  audience  was  in 
no  mood  to  leave,  and  many  still  pressed  in.  Appeal  to 
the  police  was  also  without  avail. 

"At  length,  weary  of  waiting,  and  finding  no  prospect  of 
a  meeting,  one  after  another,  they  left.  The  room  was 
found  quite  the  worse  for  the  incident :  benches  broken, 
seats  scratched  and  smeared  with  mud.  The  entire  inci- 
dent was  a  display  of  usual  Moslem  tactics.  The  crowd 
had  come  determined  to  win,  if  not  by  argument,  then 
by  display  of  force.  .  .  ."  —  REV.  C.  R.  WATSON  in  The 
United  Presbyterian,  February  15,  1906. 

A  GOOD  FOUNDATION  FOR  A  BIBLE  HOUSE 

"  When  the  foundations  of  the  Bible  House  at  Constan- 
tinople were  laid,  the  removal  of  the  surface  soil  revealed 
the  broken  walls  of  a  Christian  church  built  on  that  site 
fourteen  hundred  years  ago.  Upon  the  foundations  of 
that  ancient  church  edifice  rests  a  part  of  the  Bible  House 
walls  to-day.  The  site  is  holy  ground,  consecrated  by 
the  prayers  of  the  Christians  of  that  sixth  century,  which 
sent  its  missionaries  to  heathen  Britain  in  the  West,  and 
to  Central  Asia  and  China  in  the  East.  Is  it  an  acci- 
dent, think  yon,  that  after  all  these  years  the  prayers 
offered  in  that  old  church  for  the  coming  of  the  King- 
dom have  begun  to  be  answered  by  the  establishment 
again  of  witnesses  for  Jesus  Christ  upon  this  very  spot? 
There  are  no  accidents  in  God's  administration  of  His 
Kingdom.  Then  the  missionary  century  of  the  hoary 
past  joins  its  plea  to  the  present  missionary  century  for 
Christians  everywhere  to  rally  to  the  effective  endow- 
ment of  this  mission  publishing  work,  which  is  rooted 
in  the  broad  principles  of  Jesus  Christ  himself,  even  as 
its  material  habitation  is  established  upon  the  rock-like 
foundations  for  Christian  service  laid  by  the  earliest  colo- 
nies of  his  followers  in  this  city." 

—  REV.  HENRY  O.  DWIGHT,  LL.D. 


THE  MOSLEM  BEGGAR 

[NOTE.  — Poor  destitute  men,  many  of  them  deprived  of 
their  eyes  as  punishment  for  law-breaking,  infest  the  towns 
of  Morocco  and  other  lands  of  the  East.  Their  common  cry 
is  "  Ya  Mai  Allah,"  "  Give  me  what  belongs  to  God  1 "  J 

"  In  shadow  of  a  crumbling  mosque  he  stands, 
An  aged  mendicant  with  want  outworn, 

Eyes  from  their  shrunken  sockets  ruthless  torn, 
For  crimes  in  lawless  youth,  —  for  so  demands 

The  cruel  Moslem  code.     With  trembling  hands 
Outheld  for  aid  he  only  lives  to  mourn, 
Till  kindly  Death  beyond  the  earthly  bourne 

Shall  carry  him  at  last,  and  loose  his  bands. 

*  To  motley  crowds  that  careless  come  and  go 

He  murmurs,  <  Give  me  what  belongs  to  God/ 
That  cry  proclaims  the  debt  that  Christians  owe 
His  country  where  Mohammed's  legions  trod, 
And  with  the  sword  their  creed  unholy  spread, 
Bobbing  her  children  of  the  Living  Bread." 

—  S.  S.  McCuRRY. 


112 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  WORK  THAT  REMAINS  TO  BE  DONE 

The  Unoccupied  Fields.  —  In  the  previous  Unoccupied 
chapters  we  have  seen  something  of  the  work  Fields 
of  missions  for  Mohammedans  direct  and  in- 
direct in  lands  like  Egypt,  Turkey,  Persia, 
India,  Sumatra,  and  Java,  where  for  many  years 
the  Moslem  populations  have,  more  or  less, 
come  in  contact  with  the  missions.  These 
lands  and  others  more  recently  entered  may,  in 
a  sense,  be  considered  occupied.  Yet  there  is 
not  a  single  one  of  them  where  the  total 
number  of  laborers  is  in  any  sense  adequate 
for  the  work  of  evangelization.  Even  in 
Egypt,  for  example,  only  a  small  fraction  of 
the  Moslem  population  is  reached  in  any  way 
by  the  Gospel. 

In  Turkey,  where  there  are  many  missionary 
agencies  at  work,  the  bulk  of  the  Mohammedan 
population  is  either  inaccessible  or  neglected. 
And  even  in  India,  where  there  is  an  open  India 
door  to  62,000,000  Moslems,  the  number  of 
those  specially  qualified  and  set  apart  for  work 
among  them  is  altogether  too  few. 

Aside,    however,    from   the   vast   work    that 

remains   to  be   done   in   these   lands,  in  which 

the  strategic  centres  of  population  are  already 

mission  stations,  and  whose  territory  has  been 

i  113 


114  MOSLEM  LANDS 

divided  among  various  societies  by  the  laws 
of  comity,  there  are  lands  wholly  untouched 
or  almost  entirely  unreached  by  the  Gospel. 
These  unoccupied  lands  and  regions  are  those 
where  nothing  has  yet  been  done,  and  where 
there  are  neither  mission  stations  nor  mission 
workers. 

Our  Watch-  In  our  study  of  missions  we  must  never  for- 
get that  "  the  evangelization  of  the  world  in 
this  generation,"  which  has  become  the  battle- 
cry  of  missions,  is  an  impossible  ideal  unless 
these  unoccupied  fields,  hitherto  utterly  neg- 
lected, are  entered  and  evangelized.  The  field 
is  the  world.  Therefore  the  perfect  cultivation 
of  one  section,  however  large  or  important,  to 
the  neglect  of  other  corners  of  the  field,  cannot 
be  the  fulfilment  of  the  will  of  the  Great  Hus- 
bandman. 

Darkest  Darkest  Africa.  —  The  darkest  part  of  Africa 

Africa  to-day  is  Mohammedan  Africa  and  those  great 

border-marches  of  Islam  where  paganism  is 
rapidly  and  surely  giving  way  before  the 
Moslem  advance.  In  the  point  of  numbers, 
Mohammedanism  claims  thirty-six  per  cent  of 
Africa's  population,  or  58,864,587  souls  out  of 
a  total  population  of  163,736,683. 

Of  this  Mohammedan  population,  the  over- 
whelming majority,  or  54,790,879,  are  to  be 
found  north  of  the  equator.  Of  these,  again, 
two-fifths,  roughly  speaking,  are  north  of 
twenty  degrees  north  latitude,  and  three-fifths 
are  south  of  that  latitude. 

"While  in  actual    numbers   there  are   more 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS   TO  BE  DONE     115 

Mohammedans  between  the  latitude  indicated 
and  the  equator   than  north  of   that   latitude, 
yet,    in   proportion   to   the    population   of    the 
countries    involved,    Mohammedanism    is    far  Islam's 
stronger  north  of   twenty   degrees   north  lati-  stronghold 
tude;    for,  north  of  this  latitude,  the  Moham- 
medans constitute  ninety-one    per  cent  of   the 
population,     while    between     twenty     degrees 
north   latitude   and   the    equator,  the  Moham- 
medan population  is  only  forty-two  per  cent." 

If  these  statistics,  given  by  Dr.  Charles  R. 
Watson  at  the  Cairo  Conference,  are  compared 
with  a  map  of  mission  stations  in  Africa,  we 
find  that  the  centres  of  light  are  "  like  a  little 
candle  burning  in  the  night"  of  Islam.  So 
few  and  far  between  are  the  points  occupied. 

"  Taking  the  parallel  of  latitude  that  would  touch  the  A  Great 
northern  bend  of  the  Niger  as  the  northern  limit,  and 
that  which  would  touch  the  northern  bend  of  the  Congo 
as  the  southern  limit,  and  modifying  these  boundaries  at 
either  side  of  the  continent  so  as  to  omit  the  mission 
stations  on  the  West  Coast  and  on  the  upper  courses  of 
the  Nile,  we  find  a  territory  about  equal  to  that  of  the 
United  States,  and  far  more  densely  populated,  without 
a  single  representative  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
With  a  mission  station  just  established  by  the  United 
Presbyterians  of  America  on  the  Sobat  River,  of  the 
Upper  Nile  basin,  and  with  stations  opened  by  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  and  the  United  Sudan  Mis- 
sion in  the  Niger  basin,  1500  miles  to  the  west,  the  situa- 
tion presented  is  as  if  the  United  States,  with  her  85,000,000 
of  people,  had  one  missionary  in  Maine  and  another  in 
Texas  and  no  Gospel  influence  between."  l 

1  Nay  lor' s  ''Unoccupied  Mission  Fields  in  Africa,"  The 
Missionary  Review,  March,  1906. 


116 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Growth  of 
Islam 


The  Sudan  The  Call  of  the  Sudan.  —  The  great  central 
and  thickly  peopled  Sudan  is  one  of  the  most 
needy  fields  in  the  world,  and  only  the  merest 
beginnings  have  been  made  in  its  evangelization. 
According  to  Professor  Beach,  "  we  have  here 
a  population  numbering  two-thirds  that  of  the 
United  States  who  cannot  by  any  possibility 
reach  a  Protestant  Mission  Station."  Taken 
in  its  widest  extent,  this  "  Country  of  the 
Blacks,"  for  that  is  the  Arabic  meaning  of  the 
name,  includes  almost  a  fourth  of  the  continent 
both  as  to  area  and  population. 

And  the  problem  in  all  this  vast  region  is  to- 
day the  problem  of  Islam.  Hear  the  testimony 
of  the  Rev.  J.  Aitken:  "  When  I  came  out  in 
1898,  there  were  few  Mohammedans  to  be  seen 
below  Iddah.  Now  they  are  everywhere,  ex- 
cepting below  Abo,  and  at  the  present  rate  of 
progress  there  will  scarcely  be  a  pagan  village 
on  the  river  banks  by  1910.  Then  we  shall 
begin  to  talk  of  Mohammedan  missions  to  these 
people,  and  any  one  who  has  worked  in  both 
heathen  and  Mohammedan  towns  knows  what 
that  means."1  If  Dr.  Karl  Kumm's  estimates 
are  trustworthy,  this  great  destitute  district 
of  the  Sudan,  one  of  the  most  strategic  and  the 
most  important  unoccupied  territories  in  the 
world,  has  a  population  of  at  least  fifty  millions. 
And  yet  less  than  a  score  of  missionaries  are 
found  in  the  entire  area. 

Ten  of  the  fifteen  great  provinces  have  not 
one  mission  station  or  missionary.  If  a  new 
i "  The  Call  of  the  Sudan," Missionary  Review,  January,  1907. 


WOEK  THAT  REMAINS   TO  BE  DONE     117 


worker  was  sent  out  every  day,  and  each  one 
took  a  parish  of  10,000  people,  it  would  take 
over  sixteen  years  to  occupy  the  Sudan. 

Dr.  Karl  Kumm  gives  the  following  summary  The  Situa- 
of  these  unoccupied  fields :  — 


tion 


THE  LAND 

SIZE 

GOVERNMENT 

MISSIONARIES 

Kordofan 
Daffur 

England 
France 

British 
British 

None 
None 

Wadai 
Bagirmi 

f  Italy  and 
[Ireland 
Switzerland 
Holland 

French 
French 

None 
None 

-  Belgium 
and 

Tasmania 

Kanem 

J  Greece  and 

French 

None 

Adamawa 

Bornu 
Sokoto 
Gando 

\  Denmark 
J  Turkey  in 
\  Europe 
England 
Japan 
{Scotland 

German  and 
British 
British 
British 
British 

None 

None 
5  C.M.S. 

None 

Workers 

and 

Ireland 

Nupe 

Bulgaria 

British     ' 

6  Canadian  Workers 

Islam  or  Christ. — It  is  true  that  these  countries 
are  not  wholly  Moslem,  but  Islam  is  becoming 
more  and  more  predominant  in  them  all.  And 
one  point  to  be  emphasized  is  that  if  the  Church 
does  not  go  now  to  these  pagan  tribes  in  Africa 
that  are  threatened  with  a  more  or  less  forced 
conversion  to  Islam,  it  will  find  the  task  of  evan- 
gelizing them  in  the  future  a  most  difficult  one. 


Islam  or 
Christ 


118 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


After  visiting  the  Sierra  Leone  Missions, 
Canon  Smith  writes  :  — 

Now  or  "  The  Christian  Church  in  Africa  needs  to  wake  up 

never  and  take  alarm,  if  she  would  even  hope  to  maintain  a 

place  in  the  Hinterland !  Everywhere  you  turn,  be  it  on 
the  byway  or  on  the  high  road,  you  find  the  <  Mori  '  men 
thrusting  themselves  among  the  people  and  gaining  ad- 
herents. They  gather  together  a  few  children  and  with 
the  aid  of  wooden  tablets,  inscribed  with  Arabic  sentences 
from  the  Koran,  succeed  in  teaching  these  children  the  one 
great  doctrinal  <  fact '  of  the  Mohammedan  faith.  It  is 
useless  for  Christians  to  try  to  weaken  the  effect  of  the 
warning  by  saying  that  these  children  do  not  understand 
what  they  are  taught ;  look  to  the  net  result,  which  is, 
that  over  the  whole  land  determined  Mohammedans  are 
being  made  every  day." 

Instead  of  the  pliant  pagan  villager,  with  his 
grotesque  idols  and  simple  religion,  there  will 
be  opposing  us  a  people  with  their  faith  fixed 
on  Mohammed's  ability  to  save  all  his  followers, 
and  with  fanatic  hostility  to  the  proclamation 
of  Jesus  as  the  one  true  God. 

The  Peril  The  Moslem  Peril  in  Africa.  —  It  is  for  this 

to-day  reason   that  missionaries  and  students  of  mis- 

sions speak  of  a  Mohammedan  peril  in  the  Dark 
Continent.  Those  who  know  of  the  conditions 
in  West  Africa,  for  example,  say  every  effort 
should  be  made  to  forestall  the  entrance  of 
Islam  into  the  border-lands  before  this  religion 
renders  evangelization  tenfold  more  difficult 
than  it  is  among  African  pagans.  In  Western 
Africa,  Islam  and  Christianity  between  them 
are  spoiling  heathenism,  and  will  probably  divide 
the  pagan  peoples  in  less  than  fifty  years. 
Pastor  F.  Wurz,  Secretary  of  the  Basel  Mis- 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS   TO  BE  DONE     119 

sion,  in  a  recent  pamphlet  speaks  with  dread  of 
this  Mohammedan  aggression  as  a  peril  to  the 
Native  Church.  He  states  that  the  situation  on 
the  Gold  Coast  is  alarming.  In  one  village  a 
native  preacher  and  his  entire  congregation  went 
over  to  Islam.  "  Missions  will  scarcely  be  able 
to  prevent  the  entrance  of  Islam  among  a  single 
tribe,  much  less  into  large  districts.  Islam  is 
spreading  with  the  certainty  and  irresistibleness 
of  a  rising  tide.  The  only  question  is  whether  How  to  be 
it  will  still  be  possible  for  missions  to  organize  met 
Christian  Churches,  like  breakwaters,  able  to 
resist  the  flood  and  outweather  it,  or  whether 
everything  will  be  carried  away  headlong." 

The  Sudan  United  Mission  calls  the  attention  Hausa-land 
of  Christendom  to  the  present  crisis  in  Hausa- 
land.  All  the  heathen  populations  of  the  Cen- 
tral Sudan  will  go  over  to  Islam  unless  the 
Church  awakes  to  its  opportunity.  It  is  now  or 
never ;  it  is  Islam  or  Christ !  In  other  parts 
of  Africa,  the  situation  is  one  full  of  peril  to  the 
Native  Church.  This  aspect  of  the  problem 
was  treated  in  a  masterly  paper,  by  Professor 
Carl  Meinhof,  of  the  University  of  Berlin,  at  a 
recent  conference,  under  the  title,  "  Do  Missions 
to  the  Pagans  of  Africa  Compel  us  to  Carry  on 
Work  for  the  Moslems  as  well?"  His  argu- 
ment proves  that  every  mission  in  Africa,  north 
of  the  equator,  will  be  compelled  sooner  or  later 
to  do  direct  work  for  Moslems  or  imperil  its 
very  existence. 

A  writer  in    Uganda  Notes  gives  the  same 
testimony :  — 


120 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Islam  in 
Uganda 


Can  Islam 
be  a  Bless- 
ing? 


"  Egypt  draws  perceptibly  nearer  to  Uganda.  The  most 
northerly  station  of  the  Uganda  Mission  at  Condokoro, 
whither  two  Baganda  evangelists  were  sent  in  February, 
is  distant  only  one  hundred  and  twelve  miles  from  Bori, 
where  the  Sudan  party  are  settled.  Lower  Egypt  is  a 
stronghold  of  Islam,  and  the  followers  of  that  religion  are 
ever  busy  carrying  their  creed  southward  through  Upper 
Egypt  towards  the  confines  of  this  Protectorate.  Many 
of  the  Nile  tribes  have  already  embraced  Islam,  though 
the  tribes  to  the  north  of  our  missions  in  Bunyoro  are 
still  heathen.  If  these  tribes  are  left  to  accept  Moham- 
medanism before  the  Gospel  is  carried  to  them,  the  diffi- 
culty of  our  work  in  these  regions  will  undoubtedly  be 
seriously  enhanced.  ...  As  far  as  Uganda  is  concerned, 
Islam  is,  of  course,  infinitely  less  a  power  than  it  once 
was,  when,  in  the  troublous  early  days  of  Christianity  it 
threatened  to  overwhelm  the  combined  heathen  and 
Christian  forces  arrayed  against  it.  But  it  is  not  only 
from  the  north  that  the  followers  of  Islam  are  threaten- 
ing an  invasion. 

"  From  the  eastern  side  the  railway  has  brought  us  into 
intimate  association  with  coast  influence ;  Swahilis  and 
Arabs  coming  up  the  line  leave  Islamism  in  their  wake, 
for  almost  every  Moslem  is  more  or  less  of  a  missionary 
of  his  faith.  Would  that  the  same  might  be  said  of 
Christians !  Not  a  few  Moslems  are  holding  important 
positions  in  Uganda,  while  the  larger  number  of  those  in 
authority  in  Busogo  are,  or  were  till  quite  recently,  also 
Mohammedans.  The  followers  of  the  false  prophet  have 
a  great  influence  among  the  natives,  which  does  not  give 
promise  of  becoming  less  as  time  goes  on.  There  is  a  dis- 
tinct danger  of  the  Eastern  Province  becoming  nominally 
Moslem  before  Christianity  has  made  for  itself  a  favorable 
impression  on  the  minds  of  the  people." 

Mohammedan  Women  in  the  Central  Sudan. — 

Whether  Islam  is  a  blessing  to  Africa  in  ele- 
vating the  pagan  races  to  a  higher  level  or  is 
not,  was  once  thought  an  open  question.  Un- 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS   TO  BE  DONE     121 

doubtedly  the  entrance  of  Islam  has  in  many 
regions  developed  a  desire  for  clothing  and 
certain  social  comforts ;  occasionally  it  has  dis- 
couraged cannibalism,  promoted  personal  clean- 
liness through  its  prayer  ritual,  and  given  the 
ability  to  read  Arabic.  But  we  must  not  leave  How  far  it 
out  of  account  the  blighting  influence  of  Islam  civilizes 
in  its  sensual  teaching  and  the  horrors  of  the 
slave  traffic  which  .has  been  the  trade-mark  of 
the  system.  Canon  Taylor,  Reclus,  Thomson, 
and  Blyden  were  strong  advocates  of  the  re- 
forming power  of  Islam,  but  equally  strong  and 
more  competent  authorities,  like  Livingstone, 
Stanley,  Schweinfurth,  and  Burton,  contradict 
their  conclusions.  The  reason  why  Islam  found 
favor  among  the  Negro  races  was  just  because  of 
its  low  moral  standards.  As  a  Moslem  once 
said  to  a  European  :  "  You  must  not  wear  our 
clothes.  They  are  given  us  of  God  to  set  forth 
the  character  of  our  religion,  as  yours  set  forth 
the  character  of  your  own.  Our  clothes  are 
wide,  easy,  flowing  ;  so  is  our  religion.  We  can 
steal,  lie,  commit  adultery,  and  do  as  we  wish, 
and  our  Prophet  will  make  it  all  right  for  us  at 
the  last  day.  Your  clothes  are  like  your  re- 
ligion :  tight-fitting,  narrow,  and  restraining." 

The  condition  of  Mohammedan  women  in  the  A  Hopeless 
Central  Sudan  is  sufficient  proof  of  the  utter  system 
hopelessness  of  such  religion  for  African  woman- 
hood.    We  read  the  testimony  of  a  missionary: 

"  Social  and  moral  evils,  which  may  have  a  thin  cloak 
thrown  over  them  in  the  East  as  well  as  in  those  lands  of 
Islam  in  the  North  of  Africa,  are  openly  and  boldly  un- 


122 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Cruelty 


Darkest 
Asia 


covered  in  the  Hausa  States.  The  late  Emir  of  Zaria  was 
terribly  severe  to  all  his  people,  and  cruel  to  a  degree  with 
any  of  his  wives  who  transgressed  in  any  way,  or  were 
suspected  of  unfaithfulness.  In  one  instance  in  which  a 
female  slave  had  assisted  one  of  his  wives  to  escape,  both 
being  detected,  the  wife  was  immediately  decapitated,  and 
the  slave  given  the  head  in  an  open  calabash,  and  ordered 
by  the  Emir  to  fan  the  flies  off  it  until  next  night ! 

"  There  is  a  very  vicious  and  terribly  degrading  habit 
amongst  the  Hausas,  which  is  known  as  '  Tsaranchi.' 
One  cannot  give  in  a  word  an  English  equivalent  and 
one  does  not  desire  to  describe  its  meaning.  It  has  the 
effect  of  demoralizing  most  of  the  young  girls  and  mak- 
ing it  almost  certain  that  very  few  girls  of  even  eleven 
or  twelve  have  retained  any  feelings  of  decency  and 
virtue." l 

Such  are  some  of  the  everyday  conditions  in 
the  unoccupied  Moslem  lands  of  Africa. 

Darkest  Asia.  —  Turning  from  darkest  Africa 
to  Asia,  we  find  in  this  continent  a  situation 
hardly  less  needy  and  with  even  greater,  be- 
cause more  varied,  opportunity.  In  Asia  the 
following  lands  and  areas  of  Moslem  popula- 
tion are  still  wholly  unreached:  — 

ESTIMATED 
MOSLEM  POPULATION 

Afghanistan 4,000,000 

Hejaz,  Hadramaut,  Nejd,  and  Hassa  (Arabia)  .      3,500,000 

Southern  Persia 2,500,000 

Kussia  in  Caucasus 2,000,000 

Russia  in  Central  Asia 3,000,000 

Bokhara 1,250,000 

Khiva ,  700,000 

Mindanao  (Philippines)      .         .  ,  ^     250,000 

Siberia  (East  and  West) 6,100,000 

China,  unreached  sections 20,000,000 

43,300,000 

i"  Our  Moslem  Sisters,"  pp.  119,  121. 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS   TO  BE  DONE     123 

These  unevangelized  millions  in  Asia,  all  of 
them  under  the  yoke  of  Islam,  are  in  some  cases 
a  rebuke  for  the  neglect  of  the  Church.  Kafir- 
istan,  one  of  the  five  provinces  of  Afghanistan, 
is  a  sad  example :  — 

"  It  was  a  sorrowful  day  for  them, "  writes  Colonel  G.  Rebuke  for 
Wingate,  "  when  by  a  stroke  of  the  pen  in  the  British  Neglect 
foreign  office  eleven  years  ago,  their  country  was  brought 
within  the  boundaries  of  Afghanistan.  At  last  the 
Kafirs  were  the  subjects  of  the  Ameer.  In  consultation 
with  Ghulam  Haider,  his  commander-in-chief,  he  deter- 
mined to  convert  them  and  bring  them  into  the  fold  of 
Islam.  The  distasteful  offices  of  the  mullah  were  offered 
at  the  muzzle  of  the  breech-loader,  the  rites  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan belief  were  enforced  upon  an  unwilling  peo- 
ple, mosques  took  the  place  of  temples,  the  Koran  and 
the  traditions  of  the  Caliphate  would  be  the  spiritual 
regeneration  of  the  pagan  Kafir.  Yet  twenty-five  years 
ago  a  message  from  the  Kafirs  of  the  Hindu  Kush  stirred 
the  Christian  church ;  they  asked  that  teachers  might 
be  sent  to  instruct  them  in  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ. 
It  is  a  sad  example  of  how  an  opportunity  may  be  lost, 
for  to-day  there  is  imposed  between  the  ambassador  for 
Christ  and  the  eager  Kafir  the  hostile  aggression  of  a 
Mohammedan  power  intensely  jealous  of  the  entrance  of 
the  foreigner." 1 

Afghanistan  and  Baluchistan.  —  Although  not 
at  all  the  largest  in  area  or  in  population,  yet  Af- 
ghanistan is  of  strategic  importance  among  the 
unoccupied  regions  of  Asia.     It  lies  in  the  heart  The  Heart 
of   the   continent,  the  kernel  of   a  vast   Mos-  ofAsia 
lem  domain  and  the  objective  of  foreign  influ- 

1 "  Unevangelized  Regions  in  Central  Asia,"  by  Colonel  G. 
Wingate,  C.I.E.,  in  the  Missionary  Review  of  the  World, 
May,  1907.  Kafiristan  signifies  "  Land  of  unbelievers,"  and 
the  name  was  given  to  the  province  by  Moslems. 


124 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Strategic 
Location 


Area  and 
Population 


ence  from  several  quarters.  On  the  west  is 
Persia,  with  its  copious  language  and  polite  peo- 
ple, influencing  Afghanistan  through  its  speech 
so  that  Persian  has  become  the  court  language; 
during  the  progress  of  his  tour  in  India  the 
Amir  made  all  his  speeches  in  that  language. 
On  the  east  is  Mohammedan  India;  on  the 
south,  Baluchistan;  and  on  the  north  the  classic 
Oxus  divides  Afghanistan  from  Russian  Tur- 
kestan, with  its  millions  of  Mohammedans  and 
the  ancient  city  of  Bokhara.  To  the  celebrated 
Moslem  schools  of  Bokhara,  the  youths  of 
Kabul,  Herat,  and  other  cities  of  Afghanistan 
are  sent  to  join  the  thousands  of  students  who 
are  receiving  education.  From  its  orthodox 
schools,  teachers  also  have  gone  out  to  all  parts 
of  Asia  to  preach  the  very  letter  of  the  Koran. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  in  the  midst  of  Mo- 
hammedan Asia  lies  this  mountainous  country 
of  Afghanistan,  with  a  people  who  love  to  be 
free  and  yet  show  hospitality  to  the  stranger. 

Having  an  area  of  215,400  square  miles  and 
a  population  of  about  4,000,000,  but  without  a 
Christian  missionary,  surely  this  land  is  a  chal- 
lenge to  faith !  The  door  seems  closed  at  present, 
and  yet  Colonel  Wingate  writes : l  — 

"  The  Amir,  on  his  recent  tour  in  India,  stated  in  his 
address  to  the  students  of  the  important  Mohammedan 
College  at  Aligarh,  that  in  his  dominions  there  were  re- 
siding Sunnis  and  Shiahs,  Hindus,  and  Jews  and  others, 
to  all  of  whom  he  had  given  full  religious  liberty,  and  he 
begged  them  not  to  give  credence  to  the  report  that  he 

!In  the  Bombay  Guardian,  May  11,  1907. 


WOEK  THAT  EEMAINS   TO  BE  DONE     125 

was  a  bigot.  The  time  is  perhaps  opportune  to  commence 
a  Medical  Mission  in  North-Eastern  Afghanistan,  where 
the  climate  is  suitable  for  Europeans,  and  the  attitude 
of  the  people  is  favourable." 

Baluchistan  is  nominally  a  part  of  the  Indian  Baluchistan 
Empire,  of  which  it  forms  the  extreme  western 
border.  The  northeastern  part  of  the  country 
is  directly  administrated  by  British  officials 
and  garrisoned  by  British  troops.  Another  sec- 
tion is  under  native  government,  with  British 
supervision,  and  a  third  part  is  inhabited  by  no- 
mad tribes.  Out  of  a  population  of  1,050,000 
there  are  995,000  Mohammedans.  The  only 
mission  station  in  Baluchistan  is  at  Quetta, 
where  the  Church  Missionary  Society  has  nine 
missionaries,  men  and  women;  schools  and  a 
hospital. 

The  social  and  moral  conditions  in  Baluchis- 
tan, as  well  as  in  Afghanistan,  are  indescribable, 
as  we  have  seen  in  a  previous  chapter.  But  the 
people  are  many  of  them  Moslems  in  name  only, 
and  are  willing  to  hear  the  Gospel  if  only 
there  were  messengers  of  the  truth. 

In  regard  to  the  district  of  Khelat  in  Baluchis-  Kheiat 
tan,  the  Rev.  A.  D.  Dixey  testifies  that  the  in- 
habitants are  still  only  nominal  Mohammedans, 
and  not  bigoted.     "  They  will  listen  now,  but 
in  a  few  years  they  will  have  become  fanatical." 

Neglected  Arabia.  —  The   cradle  of  Islam  is  Arabia 
still  a  challenge  to  Christendom,  —  a  Gibraltar 
of  fanaticism  and  pride  that  awaits  the  conquest 
of   the   Cross.     The   present   missionary  force 
in  Arabia  is  utterly  inadequate  to  supply  the 


126  MOSLEM  LANDS 

A  Neglected  needs  even  of  that  small  portion  of  the  field  they 
Land  have  occupied.     There  are  only  four  points  on 

a  coast  of  four  thousand  miles  where  there  are 
resident  missionaries.  There  is  not  a  single 
missionary  over  twenty  miles  inland  from  this 
coast.  No  missionary  has  ever  crossed  the  pen- 
insula in  either  direction.  The  total  number  of 
foreign  missionaries  in  Arabia  to-day  is  thirty- 
one,  for  a  population  of  8,000,000  souls. 

The  Keith  Falconer  Mission  is  scarcely  as 
strong  in  numbers  as  when  Keith  Falconer  died. 
The  Arabian  Mission  has  only  recently  received 
enough  reenforcement  to  man  its  three  stations 
adequately  and  permanently.  The  only  part 
of  Arabia  that  is  fairly  well  occupied  is  the 
River-country  ;  that  is,  the  two  vilayets  of  Bag- 
dad and  Busrah.  Here  there  are  two  stations 
and  two  out-stations  on  the  rivers  ;  colporteurs 
and  missionaries  regularly  visit  the  larger  vil- 
lages ;  several  native  workers  are  in  regular 
employ,  and  the  Bible  Society  is  active.  Yet 
in  these  two  vilayets  scarcely  anything  has  yet 
been  done  for  the  large  Bedouin  population. 
Unoccupied  Looking  at  Arabia  by  provinces  :  Hejaz  has 
Provinces  no  missionary;  Hadramaut  has  no  missionary; 
Jebel  Shammar  and  all  the  northern  desert  have 
no  missionary  ;  Nejd  has  no  missionary  ;  Oman 
has  two  missionaries.  Again,  the  following 
towns  and  cities  are  accessible,  but  have  not  one 
witness  for  Christ :  Sana,  Hodeidah,  Menakha, 
Zebid,  Damar,  Taiz,  Ibb,  with  forty  smaller 
towns  in  Yemen  ;  Makallah,  Shehr,  and  Shiban 
in  Hadramaut ;  Rastak,  Someil,  Sohar,  Sur,  Abu 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS  TO  BE  DONE  127 

Thubi,  Sharka,  and  other  important  towns  in 
Oman  ;  not  to  speak  of  the  important  towns  of 
Nejd  and  "  the  holy  cities,"  Mecca  and  Medina, 
still  closed  to  the  Gospel. 

Arabia  is  in  truth  a  neglected  field,  even  now. 
Thus  far  the  work  has  been  largely  preliminary ; 
the  evangelization  of  Arabia  is  the  goal;  not 
until  every  province  is  entered  and  every  one  of 
the  strategic  points  specified  is  occupied  can  we 
truly  speak  of  Arabia  as  occupied. 

Russia  and  Bokhara.  —  These  are  also  typical  Kussia 
cases  of  unoccupied  fields  and  neglected  millions 
in  the  Mohammedan  world.  The  great  empire 
of  Russia,  convulsed  with  social  and  religious 
unrest  and  in  the  throes  of  a  new  political  birth, 
will  soon  be  an  empire  of  missionary  opportunity 
and  responsibility.  Among  its  population  of 
126,666,000  there  are  13,889,000  Mohammedans, 
mostly  in  Asiatic  Russia  and  Siberia.  Mission 
work  has  been  attempted  at  different  times  in 
different  parts  of  the  empire  by  the  Moravians, 
the  Basel  Mission,  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
etc.,  but  the  attempts  made  were  futile  because 
of  the  repressive  action  of  the  Russian  gov- 
ernment. The  Bible  societies,  however,  enjoy 
great  freedom,  have  many  privileges,  and  accom- 
plish much.  There  is  little  special  work  done 
for  the  Mohammedans. 

Bokhara  is  a  Russian  dependency  in  Central  Bokhara 
Asia,  with  a  population  of  over  a  million,  nearly 
all  Turkish  Mohammedans.     There  are  no  es- 
tablished missions  in  the  country,  and  no  for- 
eigner is  allowed  entrance  without  a  Russian 


128 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


passport.  Yet  from  the  Swedish  missionary, 
Rev.  E.  John  Larsen,  who  visited  the  capital, 
we  have  this  interesting  pen  picture  :  — 

A  Wonder-          "  The  capital  city  of  Bokhara,  which  is  a  state  vassal 
ful  City  to  Russia,  is  a  stronghold  at  present  for  the  spiritual 

power  of  Islam  in  Central  Asia.  From  all  Moslem  coun- 
tries in  Central  Asia  young  men  come  for  their  higher 
education  to  the  celebrated  Moslem  schools  of  Bokhara. 
Generally  there  are  several  thousands  of  students  in  these 
schools.  Bokhara  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  cities 
in  the  Orient.  It  is  remarkable  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  Moslems  in  the  city  can  read.  The  reason,  I  think, 
is  the  number  of  schools. 

"  Once  I  remained  in  Bokhara  two  months.  From  our 
bookstore  in  the  city,  our  native  helpers  distributed  the 
New  Testament  even  among  the  people  of  Afghanistan. 
One  old  professor  in  the  high  school  of  Bokhara  received 
from  us  the  Bible  in  Arabic.  He  was  very  thankful,  and 
early  in  the  morning  he  used  to  come  to  visit  us  for  read- 
ing, prayer,  and  conversation.  One  morning  he  said,  1 1 
am  convinced  that  Jesus  Christ  will  conquer  Mohammed. 
There  is  no  doubt  about  it,  because  Christ  is  king  of 
heaven  and  on  the  earth,  and  His  kingdom  fills  heaven 
and  will  soon  fill  the  earth.' " 


The  Gospel 
Victorious 


Such  testimony  from  the  heart  of  Moham- 
medan Asia  is  full  of  encouragement. 

"  Say  not  the  struggle  naught  availeth, 
The  labor  and  the  wounds  are  vain, 
The  enemy  fainteth  not,  nor  faileth, 
And  as  things  have  been  they  remain. 

"  If  hopes  were  dupes,  fears  may  be  liars ; 

It  may  be  in  yon  smoke  concealed, 

Your  comrades  chase  e'en  now  the  fliers, 

And,  but  for  you,  possess  the  field. 


WOEX  THAT  REMAINS  TO  BE  DONE     129 

"  For  while  the  tired  waves,  vainly  breaking, 

Seem  here  no  painful  inch  to  gain, 
Far  back,  through  creeks  and  inlets  making, 
Comes  silent,  flooding  in,  the  main. 

"  And  not  by  eastern  windows  only, 

When  daylight  comes,  comes  in  the  light, 
In  front,  the  sun  climbs  slow,  how  slowly, 
But  westward,  look,  the  land  is  bright." 

The  Mohammedans  in  China.  —  The  thirty  isiamin 
(some  say  forty)  million  Mohammedans  in  China 
China  are  a  neglected  problem  in  the  evan- 
gelization of  the  Middle  Kingdom.  There  is 
not  a  single  society  that  has  yet  made  them 
the  objective  of  a  special  effort,  and  there  are 
scarcely  any  missionaries  in  China  who  have 
qualified  themselves  to  deal  with  the  Moham- 
medans through  knowledge  of  their  literature 
and  religion.  There  is,  for  example,  a  large 
Mohammedan  literature  in  Chinese,  but  no 
Christian  literature  prepared  specially  to  reach 
these  monotheists,  who  live  among  the  vast 
heathen  population  as  distinct,  religiously,  as 
the  Jews  were  from  the  Gentiles  in  the  Roman 
Empire. 

Dr.  Timothy  Richard,  who  is  at  the  head  of  Need  for 
"  the  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Christian  and 
General  Knowledge"  among  the  Chinese,"  wrote 
in  a  recent  letter  :  "  In  China  there  is  no  one  at 
present  writing  for  the  Mohammedans.  One 
or  two  tracts  were  written  in  Chinese  some 
thirty-three  years  ago  by  a  friend  of  mine,  but 
none  since."  It  seems  almost  incredible.  No 
wonder  that  a  missionary  doing  literary  and 


130  MOSLEM  LANDS 

A  Bengal  evangelistic  work  for  the  Mohammedans  of 
Volunteer  Bengal,  when  he  heard  these  facts,  wrote: 
"When  I  think  of  all  those  millions  of  Chi- 
nese Moslems  without  a  Christian  literature 
specially  suited  for  them,  I  feel  like  packing 
up  and  going  to  China.  And  Chinese  Mos- 
lems are  the  most  tolerant  and  un-Moham- 
medan  of  any  in  the  world,  too." 

The  Mohammedan  religion  entered  China 
very  early.  For  centuries  preceding  Moham- 
med there  was  commercial  intercourse  by  sea 
between  Arabia  and  China,  and  when  the  Arab 
merchants,  the  Sindbads  of  history,  became  Mos- 
lems, it  was  only  natural  that  they  carried 
their  religion  with  them  on  their  long  voyages 
for  silk,  spices,  and  gold.  We  read  that  Mo- 
hammed utilized  these  early  trade-routes  in  the 
When  Islam  sixth  year  of  the  Hegira  by  sending  his  mater- 
nal uncle  Wahab  bin  Kabsh  with  a  letter  and 
suitable  presents  to  the  Emperor  of  China,  ask- 
ing him  to  accept  the  new  religion.  Arriving 
at  Canton  the  next  year,  he  went  to  the  capi- 
tal and  preached  Islam  for  two  years.  His 
preaching,  which  is  mentioned  in  an  inscription 
on  the  mosque  at  Canton,  produced  consider- 
able and  permanent  results. 

The  first  body  of  Arab  settlers  in  China  was 
a  contingent  of  four  thousand  soldiers  de- 
spatched by  the  Caliph  Abu  Jafer  in  755  (or, 
according  to  others,  by  the  Caliph  Al  Mansur 
in  758)  to  the  assistance  of  the  Emperor  Hsuan- 
Tsung.  These  soldiers,  in  reward  for  their  ser- 
vices and  bravery,  were  allowed  to  settle  in 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS  TO  bti  DONE     131 

China,  where,  by  intermarriage  and  preaching, 
they  won  over  many  to  their  faith.  In.  the  fol- 
lowing century  we  read  that  many  thousands  of 
Moslems  were  massacred  in  China,  and  Marco 
Polo  speaks  of  the  large  Moslem  population 
of  Yunnan. 

The  chief  centres  of  Moslem  population  to-  Numbers 
day  are  the  provinces  of  Kansu,  Shensi,  and 
Yunnan.  Regarding  the  present  growth  of 
Islam  in  China  and  the  total  number  of  Mos- 
lems in  the  empire,  there  is  the  greatest  dis- 
agreement among  writers.  In  1889,  Dr.  Happer, 
of  Canton,  thought  the  numbers  given  by  De 
Thiersant  very  excessive,  and  estimated  the 
total  Moslem  population  at  not  more  than 
three  millions.  De  Thiersant,  who  secured  his 
data  from  Chinese  officials,  put  it  at  twenty 
millions.  A.  H.  Keane,  in  his  geography  of 
Asia,  and  in  accordance  with  the  Statesmen's 
Year  Book,  one  of  the  best  authorities  on 
statistics,  says  that  China  has  thirty  million 
Mohammedans ;  while  an  Indian  writer,  Surat 
Chandra  Das,  C.I.E.,  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Asiatic  Society,  estimates  it  at  fifty  millions  ; 
and  Seyyid  Suleiman,  a  prominent  Moslem  offi- 
cer in  Yunnan  province,  states  that  there  are 
now  seventy  million  Moslems  in  China!  l 

Some  missionaries  are  not  at  all  apprehensive 
of  Islam  in  China,  and  look  upon  this  faith  as 
a  negligible  factor  in  the  evangelization  of  the 
empire.  But  those  who  have  studied  its  prog- 
ress in  other  lands  in  the  past  may  well  pon* 

1  Wherry,  u  Islam  and  Christianity,"  pp.  21  and  22. 


132 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


der  the   following   account   of  its  methods  as 
given  by  Arnold  in  his  interesting  chapter:  — 

"  In  the  towns,  the  Mohammedans  tend  little  by  little 
to  form  separate  Mohammedan  quarters,  and  finally  do 
not  allow  any  person  to  dwell  among  them  who  does  not 
Islam  in          go  to  the  mosque.    Islam  has  also  gained  ground  in  China, 
China  because  of  the  promptitude  with  which  the  Mohamme- 

dans have  repeopled  provinces  devastated  by  the  various 
scourges  so  familiar  to  China.  In  times  of  famine  they 
purchase  children  from  poor  parents,  bring  them  up  in 
the  faith  of  Islam,  and  when  they  are  full-grown,  provide 
them  with  wives  and  houses,  often  forming  whole  villages 
of  these  new  converts.  In  the  famine  that  devastated 
the  province  of  Kwangtung  in  1790,  as  many  as  10,000 
children  are  said  to  have  been  purchased  in  this  way 
from  parents  who,  too  poor  to  support  them,  were  com- 
pelled by  necessity  to  part  with  their  starving  little  ones. 
"  Seyyid  Suleiman  says  that  the  number  of  accessions 
to  Islam  gained  by  this  every  year  is  beyond  counting. 
Every  effort  is  made  to  keep  the  faith  alive  among  the 
new  converts,  even  the  humblest  being  taught,  by  means 
of  metrical  primers,  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Islam. 
To  the  influence  of  the  religious  books  of  the  Chinese 
Moslems,  Seyyid  Suleiman  attributes  many  of  the  con- 
versions that  are  made  at  the  present  day.  They  have 
no  organized  propaganda,  yet  the  zealous  spirit  of  pros- 
elytism  with  which  the  Chinese  Mussulmans  are  ani- 
mated secures  for  them  a  constant  succession  of  new 
converts,  and  they  confidently  look  forward  to  the  day 
when  Islam  will  be  triumphant  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  Chinese  Empire." l 

Turkestan  Turkestan  or  Tartary.  —  These  terms  are 
loosely  applied  to  all  the  region  east  of  the 
Caspian  Sea,  south  of  Siberia,  west  of  Man- 
churia, and  north  of  Afghanistan  and  India. 
It  includes  three  divisions,  —  West  Turkestan, 

1  T.  W.  Arnold,  "The  Preaching  of  Islam,"  p.  357. 


WOEK  THAT  EENAINS   TO  BE  DONE     133 

Jungaria,  and  East  Turkestan.  The  former 
belongs  to  Russia,  the  other  two  are  Chinese 
dependencies.  West  Turkestan  has  an  area 
of  about  1,600,000  square  miles  and  a  popula- 
tion of  eight  and  a  half  million,  Aryans, 
Mongols,  and  Turanians.  The  bulk  of  the 
population  is  Moslem. 

The  physical  features  of  this  large  area  vary 
from  mountain  peaks  of  perpetual  snow  to  deep 
gorges  and  valleys,  some  marvellously  fertile, 
and  others  barren  desert.  East  Turkestan  has 
a  small  area  and  a  much  smaller  population, 
The  climate  is  severe,  and  there  is  no  great 
fertility.  The  chief  cities  are  Yarkand  and 
Kashgar.  The  Swedish  Missionary  Society 
began  work  among  Moslems  at  Kashgar  in  Two  Mission 
1894  and  later  at  Yarkand  — the  only  light-  stations 
houses  in  all  this  region  of  the  shadow  of 
night. 

Chinese  Turkestan  was  long  counted  one  of  Chinese 
the  inaccessible  fields  of  the  world,  as  were  so 
many  other  Moslem  lands  before  pioneer  faith 
knocked  at  their  doors  to  find  that  Christ 
had  opened.  Paster  Hogberg  describes  the 
entrance  to  this  stronghold  of  Islam  as  "a 
journey  on  horseback  over  the  mountains  be- 
tween Osch  and  Kashgar,  most  interesting,  but 
most  difficult.  One  must  cross  some  ranges  of 
mountains  which  reach  an  elevation  of  from 
11,800  to  13,200  feet,  and  many  times  the  road 
is  very  narrow,  with  a  mountain  on  one  side 
and  a  precipice  on  the  other."  Nature  in  this 
part  of  Asia  is  wild  and  grand.  The  Russian 


134  MOSLEM  LANDS 

side  of  the  mountains  is  more  or  less  covered 
with  verdure  and  shrubs,  and  trees  are  to  be 
seen  here  and  there ;  but  the  Chinese  side 
is  barren  and  desolate.  During  spring  and 
summer  the  traveller  must  frequently  ford  large 
rivers,  often  at  the  risk  of  his  life. 

And  the  mission  work  surely  is  also  "  with  a 
mountain  on  one  side  and  a  precipice  on  the 
other."  Concerning  the  home  life  of  the  people, 
he  says :  — 

Home  Life  "  The  rich  man  lives  in  ease  and  luxury,  surrounded 

by  his  harem,  but  sluggishness  and  idleness  are  the 
characteristics  of  the  poor.  .  .  .  Babies  spend  their  lives 
in  a  cradle,  and  are  seldom  taken  up  in  the  arms.  Many 
a  poor  child  is  frozen  to  death  in  winter  because  of  its 
being  left  alone,  tied  up  in  its  baby  basket.  In  summer 
the  little  ones  run  naked  until  they  reach  eight  or  ten 
years  of  age. 

"In  the  city,  children  of  both  sexes  begin  to  go  to 
school  rather  early,  but  the  instruction  is  so  poor  that  very 
few  have  learned  to  read  and  write,  even  w^hen  they  have 
attended  school  for  five  or  six  years.  Instead  of  a  spell- 
ing-book, they  use  a  piece  of  board  on  which  the  mollahs 
write  the  characters,  or  the  passage  of  the  Koran  which 
the  child  is  expected  to  learn. 

"  Young  men  are  expected  to  be  married  in  their  six- 
teenth or  seventeenth  year,  and  the  girl  at  ten  or  thirteen. 
Here  is  an  account  of  a  marriage  ceremony  told  by  a 
native  woman  :  *  I  was  twelve  years  old.  The  friends  of 
my  mother  and  of  my  intended  had  settled  the  prelimi- 
naries of  marriage.  I  knew  nothing  about  it.  One  day 
a  man  arrived,  bringing  with  him  rice,  flour,  a  sheep, 
clothes,  etc.,  and  then  a  great  feast  was  prepared.  I  was 
peeling  carrots,  and  this  being  finished,  I  ran  into  the 
garden,  playing  with  my  comrades.  We  were  just  run- 
ning into  the  street  when  my  brother  gave  me  a  severe 
blow  on  my  ear.  Upon  complaining  to  my  mother,  she 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS   TO  BE  DONE     135 

said  that  it  did  not  suit  me  going  on  to  play  in  that  way  A  Child 
when  it  was  my  wedding  day.  Hearing  this,  I  began  to  Wife 
cry  bitterly.  The  guests  were  assembled,  and  I  was  clad 
as  a  bride.  The  mollah,  being  in  another  room,  had  al- 
ready asked  my  intended  whether  he  would  marry  me, 
and  now  it  was  my  turn  to  be  questioned.  When,  not 
saying  a  word,  he  repeated  his  question  again  and  again, 
until  I  must  whisper  my  "makbool"  (yes,  or  accepted). 
The  day  after,  I  and  one  of  my  playmates  mounted  a  horse 
and  went  to  the  home  of  my  husband,  where  the  marriage 
festivities  were  continued.  My  husband  was  thirty- two 
years  old.' "... 

This  pen  picture  of  "things  as  they  are" 
in  darkest  Asia  may  well  close  our  brief  and 
partial  survey  of  the  great  occupied  and  unoc- 
cupied lands  under  the  curse  of  Islam. 

It  remains  to  consider  the  special  difficulties 
of  work  for  Moslems  and  the  encouragements  in 
the  coming  conflict. 

The  Difficulties  of  the  Work.  —  The  evangel-  Difficulties 
ization  of  these  Mohammedan  lands  of  which  we  of  the  Work 
have  had  glimpses  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs 
and  chapters  —  so  great  in  their  extent,  so  deep 
in  their  degradation,  so  hopeless  without  the 
Gospel  and  so  long  neglected  —  is  one  of  the 
grandest  and  most  inspiring  tasks  to  which 
Christ  calls  His  Church.  It  has,  however,  because 
of  its  manifold  difficulties,  long  been  spoken  of  as 
the  Mohammedan  Missionary  problem.  Every 
land  and  people  has  its  own  angle  of  approach, 
its  own  peculiar  environment,  its  own  speech 
and  climate  and  government.  In  this  respect 
the  Moslem  mission  fields  also  differ  from  one 
another.  And  yet  in  each  and  all  of  them  the 


136 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Divorce   be- 
tween   Reli- 
gion and 
Morals 


Intolerance 


Mohammedan  problem  has  practically  the  same 
factors. 

There  is,  first  of  all,  the  utter  divorce  be- 
tween morality  and  religion.  Islam  is  a  for- 
mal religion,  and  the  Koran  is  a  soporific  for  the 
conscience.  It  is  hard  to  arouse  the  moral  sense 
after  so  many  centuries  of  formalism  and  bar- 
ren ritual.  All  workers  among  Mohammedans 
speak  of  this  condition.  A  good  illustration  is 
given  by  Dr.  H.  H.  Jessup :  "An  Arab  high- 
way robber  and  murderer  was  once  brought  for 
trial  before  a  Mohammedan  pasha,  when  the 
pasha  stepped  down  and  kissed  his  hand,  as  the 
culprit  was  a  dervish  or  holy  man  who  had  been 
on  several  pilgrimages  to  Mecca,  and  had  been 
known  to  repeat  the  name  of  God  (Allah)  more 
times  in  a  day  than  any  other  man."  The  tale 
is  not  incongruous  to  a  Moslem. 

Then  there  is  the  intolerance  and  pride  of  the 
Moslem  creed  which  stands  diametrically  op- 
posed to  the  broken  heart  and  humble  spirit 
demanded  by  the  Gospel.  Mohammedan  arro- 
gance is  encouraged  by  the  words  of  the 
Koran  (Surah  3  : 106),  "  Ye  are  the  best  nation 
that  hath  been  raised  up  unto  mankind." 
Doughty,  the  traveller,  gives  a  characteristic 
illustration  of  how  the  average  Moslem  in  Ara- 
bia regards  a  "  Nasrany  "  or  Christian  :  "  Our 
train  of  camels,"  he  writes,  "  drew  slowly  by 
them ;  but  when  the  smooth  Mecca  merchant 
heard  that  the  stranger  riding  with  the  camel- 
men  was  a  Nasrany,  he  cried,  6  Akhs !  A  Nas- 
rany in  these  parts ! '  and  with  the  horrid  inur- 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS   TO  BE  DONE     137 

banity  of  their  jealous  religion,  he  added,  *  Allah 
curse  his  father  ! '  and  stared  on  me  with  a  face 
worthy  of  the  Koran."  The  typical  mullah  of 
the  Moslem  faith,  whether  in  India  or  Persia  or 
the  Sudan,  often  stares  at  the  missionary  "  with 
a  face  worthy  of  the  Koran." 

Another  difficulty  is  the  almost  universal  hos- 
tile attitude  of  Moslems  toward  a  convert  from 
their  religion  to  Christianity,  and  even  to  all 
inquirers  who  begin  to  abandon  Islam.  What 
Adoniram  Judson  said  of  Burma  is  the  rule  in 
nearly  every  Moslem  land.  "  When  any  person  Hard  to  win 
is  known  to  be  considering  the  new  religion,  all  Converts 
his  relations  and  acquaintances  rise  en  masse  ;  so 
that  to  get  a  new  convert  is  like  pulling  the  eye- 
tooth  of  a  live  tiger. "  A  veteran  missionary  in 
Egypt  writes,  "  Even  in  this  land  occupied  with 
British  troops  and  governed  by  British  brains, 
it  is  next  to  impossible  for  one  of  a  Moslem 
harem  to  come  out  and  profess  her  faith  in  the 
Saviour  of  men." 

Again  there  are  the  hundred  and  one  intellec-  intellectual 
tual  difficulties  which  must  be  met,  the  popular 
Mohammedan  objections  to  Christianity  and 
Christian  doctrine,  nine-tenths  of  which  are  due 
to  the  ineradicable  tendency  on  the  part  of  Mos- 
lems to  look  upon  everything  carnally.  They 
misunderstand  the  Bible,  grossly  misinterpret 
its  spiritual  symbolism,  and  make  stumbling- 
blocks  of  the  Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  the 
Atonement,  and  the  Deity  of  our  Saviour ; 
while  the  Moslem's  belief  that  the  gospels  are 
abrogated  by  the  Koran,  or  have  become  so  cor- 


138 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Death  for 
Apostates 


Passports 


rupted  that  they  are  not  reliable,  is  a  funda- 
mental difficulty  in  all  argument. 

All  these  difficulties  are  common  in  every 
Moslem  land  in  greater  or  less  degree. 

Finally,  in  Turkey,  Morocco,  Persia,  Tripoli, 
Afghanistan,  and  parts  of  Arabia,  the  union 
between  the  temporal  and  spiritual  power  in  Islam 
blocks  evangelization.  Apostasy  in  Turkey  is 
treason  against  the  state.  Wherever  Moslem 
rule  obtains,  every  convert  runs  the  risk  of 
martyrdom.  Death  is  the  only  legal  right  of  the 
apostate  according  to  the  Koran;  and  the  Koran 
is  the  only  Magna  Charta  of  liberty  in  such 
lands.  Not  only  are  converts  persecuted,  but  the 
missionary  is  terribly  handicapped  in  his  work. 

The  first  part  of  our  Lord's  last  command  is, 
"  Go  ye ' '/  but  Turkey  has  tried  to  put  all  pos- 
sible obstacles  in  the  way  of  obedience  even  to 
this.  It  is  the  only  country  claiming  a  species 
of  civilization  where  an  American  passport  is 
worthless  away  from  the  sea-coast.  A  Turkish 
tezkere*  or  permit  to  travel,  not  only  requires  a 
fresh  vis£  for  each  journey,  but  must  be  regis- 
tered a  half  dozen  times  during  each  trip,  with 
a  corresponding  loss  of  time.  Yet  an  American 
missionary  can  hardly  reckon  his  difficulties  in 
this  regard  as  worthy  of  mention  in  comparison 
with  those  of  a  native  preacher  or  colporteur. 

No  missionary  physician  can  practise  medicine 
in  Turkey  without  a  diploma  obtained  (or  with- 
out valid  reason  often  refused)  at  the  capital. 
No  book  or  newspaper  can  be  printed  or  circu- 
lated without  official  permit ;  no  school  opened 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS   TO  BE  DONE     139 

or  church  service  held  or  hospital  erected  with- 
out a  special  license.  The  hinderances  placed 
in  the  way  of  publishing  Christian  literature 
are  such  as  would  have  commanded  the  respect 
of  the  Spanish  Inquisition.  So  many  stories  of 
Turkish  press  censorship  have  been  told  that  Censorship 
a  quarto  volume  of  them  might  be  gathered 
together.  The  American  Bible  Society  was 
recently  publishing  a  revised  edition  of  the 
Turkish  Scriptures  when  a  zealous  censor  de- 
manded that  such  verses  as  Prov.  4 : 14—17 ; 
19:29;  20:21;  21:7;  22:28;  24:15,16;  26: 
26,  be  omitted,  as  bearing  too  pointedly  on  the 
present  condition  of  affairs  in  Turkey.  It 
took  some  exertion  to  convince  him  that  the 
right  to  publish  the  Word  of  God  intact  had 
been  secured  by  treaty. 

The  editor  of  the  weekly  religious  paper 
Avedaper  was  recently  publishing  a  series  of 
articles  about  Christ's  Second  Coming,  but  was 
forbidden  to  use  the  word  millennium,  as  that 
seemed  to  intimate  that  there  could  be  a  more 
blessed  period  than  the  reign  of  Abd-ul- 
Hamid  II.  I 

Encouragements. —  In  spite  of  all  these  diffi-  Encourage- 
culties,  the  outlook  is  not  hopeless  but  hopeful.   ments 
We  are  on  the  winning  side,  and  have  nothing 
to  fear  save  our  own  sloth  and  inactivity.     The 
love  of  Jesus  Christ,  manifested  in  hospitals,  in 
schools,  in  tactful  preaching,  and  incarnated  in 
the  lives  of  devoted  missionaries,  will  irresistibly 
win  Moslems  and  disarm  all  their  fanaticism. 
It  has  done  so  in  the  hardest  fields,  is  doing  so, 


140 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Doors  Open  and  will  do  so  more  and  more  when  the  Church 
realizes  her  unprecedented  opportunities  in  the 
Moslem  world  and  seizes  them.  "  Altogether," 
says  Dr.  Rouse,  the  author  of  a  series  of  tracts 
for  Moslems  and  the  veteran  missionary  of 
Bengal,  "  the  situation  is  most  interesting  and 
encouraging.  It  would  be  much  more  so  if  I 
saw  any  sign  of  appreciation  on  the  part  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  of  the  special  opportunities 
for  missionary  work  among  Mohammedans 
which  are  now  to  be  seen  everywhere."  Three- 
fourths  of  the  Moslem  world  is  wholly  accessi- 
ble. Distances  and  dangers  have  become  less, 
so  that  the  journey  from  London  to  Bagdad 
can  now  be  accomplished  with  less  hardship 
and  in  less  time  than  it  must  have  taken  Lull 
to  go  from  Paris  to  Bugia.  Henry  Martyn 
spent  five  long  months  to  reach  Shiraz  from 
Calcutta  ;  the  same  journey  can  now  be  made 
in  a  fortnight.  There  will  soon  be  a  railway 
to  Mecca  built  by  Moslems  themselves. 

The  Mohammedans  themselves  seem  to  real- 
ize that  their  religion  is  disintegrating  and  losing 
ground.  The  frantic  efforts  at  reform  are  evi- 
dence of  the  widespread  dissatisfaction  with 
their  system.  In  India  Islam  has  abandoned,  as 
untenable,  controversial  positions  which  were 
once  thought  impregnable.  Instead  of  denying 
the  integrity  of  the  Bible  and  forbidding  its  use, 
they  now  read  it  and  write  commentaries  on  it. 
Mighty  and  irresistible  forces  are  at  work  in 
Islam  itself  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  Gospel. 
Thousands  of  Moslems  have  grown  weary  of 


Railway  to 
Mecca 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS   TO  BE  DONE     141 

their  old  faith,  and  of  ten  thousands  it  is  true  Hunger  for 

that  they  are  thirsting  for  a  living  Mediator. 

The  Babis,  the  Behais,  the  Shathalis,  the  Sufis, 

and   other  sects  and    schools  of  thought,    are 

all  examples  of  this  unconscious  search  for  our 

Redeemer,  whom  Mohammed    and  the    Koran 

have  so  long  eclipsed. 

"  Far  and  wide  though  all  unknowing, 
Pants  for  Thee  each  human  breast ; 
Human  tears  for  Thee  are  flowing, 
Human  hearts  in  Thee  would  rest." 

Even  where  fanaticism  forbids  open  preach- 
ing, the  opportunities  for  medical  mission  work 
among  Moslems  are  unprecedented  because  there 
is  a  demand  for  Christian  physicians  on  the 
part  of  Moslems  themselves,  and,  of  all  the 
methods  adopted  by  Christian  missions  in  Mos- 
lem lands,  none  have  been  more  successful  in 
breaking  down  prejudice  and  bringing  large 
numbers  of  people  under  the  sound  of  the  Gos- 
pel. The  work  at  Sheikh  Othman,  Busrah,  Medical 
and  Bahrein  in  Arabia,  at  Quetta  in  Balu-  Missions 
chistan,  and  at  Tanta  in  Egypt  are  examples. 
Regarding  the  latter  place,  Dr.  Anna  Watson 
reports  that  ninety  per  cent  of  the  cases  treated 
are  Moslem  women  who  come  from  villages 
scattered  far  and  wide,  untouched  by  any  other 
missionary  agency.  The  medical  missionary 
carries  a  passport  of  mercy  which  will  gain 
admission  for  the  truth  everywhere.  All  the 
vast  unoccupied  territory  in  the  Mohammedan 
world  is  waiting  for  the  pioneer  medical  mis- 
sionary, man  or  woman. 


142 


MOSLEM  LANDS 


Education  In  many  Moslem  lands  also  there  are  unpre- 
cedented opportunities  for  educational  work. 
The  spread  of  the  New-Islam,  the  increase  of 
journalism,  the  political  ambitions  of  Pan- 
Islamism l  and  the  march  of  civilization  are  all 
uniting  to  produce  a  desire  for  higher  education. 
Then  there  is  the  world-wide  opportunity 
even  in  the  most  difficult  fields  for  the  distri- 
bution of  the  Word  of  God  among  Moslems 
by  colporteurs  and  missionaries.  Not  without 
reason  does  the  Koran  always  speak  of  Chris- 
tians and  Jews  as  "the  people  of  the  Book." 
Ours  is  the  opportunity  to  prove  it  by  carrying 
the  Book  to  every  Moslem  in  the  world.  We 
can  safely  leave  the  verdict  on  the  Book  to  the 
Moslem  himself.  In  1905  there  were  issued 
from  the  Christian  presses  at  Constantinople 
and  Beirut,  in  languages  read  by  Mohammedans, 
over  fifty  million  pages  of  Christian  literature. 
A  Trumpet-Call  from  Algiers.  —  The  power 

A  Trumpet-  of  prevailing  prayer  must  be  applied  to  this 
mighty  problem.  And  who  can  better  call  us, 
at  the  end  of  our  study,  to  this  service  for 
the  King  than  one  of  His  faithful  soldiers  in 
Algiers,  who  is  giving  her  life  to  this  conflict. 
Miss  Lillian  L.  Trotter  writes  :  — 

"A  few  years  ago  all  was  dormant:  the  Church 
acquiesced  in  the  fact  that  Missions  to  Mohammedans 
were  a  barren  affair,  and  the  powers  of  hell  were  satisfied 

1  See  articles  on  this  subject  in  the  North  American 
Review  for  June,  1906,  and  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  for 
October,  1906,  by  Archibald  R.  Colquhoun  and  Professor 
Vambery. 


The  Press 


Call 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS   TO  BE  DONE     143 

with  her  decision.  There  was  therefore  nothing  to  fight 
over;  and  the  tiny  band  of  sappers  and  miners  at  the 
front  could  only  plod  away  doggedly,  often  for  years 
together,  without  the  impetus  of  seeing  a  skirmish,  let 
alone  a  victory. 

"  Now,  some  of  the  most  far-sighted  of  God's  servants   The  Battle 
tell  us  that  the  Moslem  question  may  be  the  very  crux   is  on 
of  the  whole  battle  in  non-Christian  lands ;  and  the  throb 
of  faith  at  home  pulses  to  one  after  another  on  the  field. 

"  And  the  result  of  growing  faith  and  prayer  is  this  : 
the  Prince  of  Darkness  has  already  felt  its  touch,  and 
has  moved;  that  is  an  immense  point  gained.  We 
have  drawn  the  enemy's  fire.  In  a  vantage-ground 
which  he  has  held  in  massive,  motionless  power  for 
ages,  he  would  not  move  unless  forced :  mental  inertia, 
spiritual  torpor,  were  the  spell  he  has  used  in  Moslem 
lands.  To  allow  this  spell  to  be  broken  by  a  breath  of 
active  resistance,  such  as  the  rally  of  Pan  Islam  shows, 
means  a  change  of  tactics.  Such  resistance  is  the  first 
phase  of  victory. 

"The  powers  against  us  have  accepted  our  challenge.    The  Chal- 
Praise  God  !     Their  counter-challenge  is  the  clearest  call    lenge  Ac- 
to  our  faith  to  press  on.     In  the  late  war  the  Japanese   cePte<* 
were   storming  an  all  but  impregnable  fort,  falling  in 
crowds  in  the  trench,  as  they  knew  how  to  fall ;  and  the 
pile  of  bodies   rose   higher  and   higher  up  the  glacis. 
Suddenly  for  one  instant  the  Japanese  flag  waved  at  the 
summit — only  for  one  instant,  before  the  bearer  was 
cut  down.     But  all  had  seen   it.     Where  the  flag  had 
swung  for  a  moment  was  its  place.     Over  the  backs  of 
the  dead,  on  the  shoulders  of  the  living,  the  host  swarmed 
in  one  great  onset  that  overpowered  the  defenders,  and 
the  flag  rose  to  stay. 

"We  have  seen  the  flag  wave;  we  have  seen  that 
Christ  can  save  Moslems.  It  may  be  that  in  many  cases 
it  has  seemed  but  a  hardly  earned,  momentary  victory, 
scarcely  worth  calling  by  the  name.  Shall  not  that  very 
fact  fire  us,  as  it  fired  those  Japanese  heroes?  for  that 
Christ  has  had  the  least  foretaste  of  His  triumph  in  a 
crucial  point  like  this,  is  a  challenge  to  His  soldiers  to 


144  MOSLEM  LANDS 

Shall  we         make  it  good.     Shall  we  not  fling  ourselves  up  the  glacis 
Win?  in  a  reckless  passion  of  loyalty — a  passion  that  shall 

make  giving,  or  praying,  or  going,  a  mere  easing  of  our 
hearts,  if  only  we  may  have  our  share  in  the  setting  up 
His  banner  on  the  hardesi^to-be-won  of  the  enemy's 
fortresses  ?  " 

HELPS  FOR  LEADERS 
Lesson  Aim : 

To  show  something  of  the  perplexing  difficulties  and 
dimensions  of  the  Mohammedan  Problem  and  to  give  a 
clear  idea  of  the  vast  regions  and  populations  still  un- 
touched. Or  the  lesson  can  be  used  to  set  forth  the  need 
of  many  more  especially  qualified  missionaries  for  pio- 
neer work  in  Moslem  lands. 
Scripture  Lesson : 

Matt.  28  : 16-20 ;  Rev.  19  : 11-21 ;  Gen.  21 : 14-20. 
Suggestive  Questions : 

1.  What  is  the  total  area  of  the  Moslem  lands  still 
wholly  unoccupied  by  missions  ? 

2.  Mention  the  chief  difficulties  in  work  for  Moslems 
under  Turkish  rule  ?     Under  British  rule  in  Egypt  ? 

3.  What  are  the  opportunities  for  medical  missions 
in  Afghanistan,  Bokhara,  Turkestan,  western  Arabia? 

4.  What  opportunities  are  there  for  literary  work  on 
behalf  of  the  Mohammedans  of  China? 

5.  What  opportunities  are  there  for  women  as  medi- 
cal  missionaries    in   the   following   cities :    Hyderabad, 
Kabul,  Bagdad,  Sanaa,  Fez,  Timbuktu,  Muscat? 

6.  What  Bible  promises  are  there  for  the  final  and 
complete  success  of  missions  in  Moslem  lands?     (Zwe- 
mer's  "  Arabia,"  pp.  396-407. 

7.  Which  large  denominations  in  America  have  no 
missionary  work  whatever  among  Moslems  ? 

8.  Mention  seven  Mohammedan  objections  to  Chris- 
tianity or  the  Gospel. 

9.  What  is  the  relation  between  the  national  move- 
ment in  Egypt  and  Pan-Islamism  ? 

10.   Write  out  a  brief  missionary  prayer  for  the  needs 
of  unoccupied  Moslem  lands. 


WOEK  THAT  REMAINS   TO  BE  DONE     145 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

In  addition  to  several  of  the  books  given  in  previous 
chapters  and  standard  books  of  travel  on  the  unoccupied 
fields,  the  following  are  suggested :  — 

W.  St.  Clair  Tisdall,  "  A  Manual  of  the  Leading  Mo- 
hammedan Objections  to  Christianity."  London,  1904. 

"Islam  and  Christianity,"  Anon.  (Most  Interesting 
Letters  by  a  Lady  Missionary.)  American  Tract  Society, 
1903. 

"  Sweet  First  Fruits."  (A  story.)  Translated  from 
the  Arabic  by  Sir  William  Muir.  London,  1893. 

"  Methods  of  Mission  Work  among  Moslems."  Flem- 
ing H.  Revell  Co.,  New  York,  1906.  (Report  of  Cairo 
Conference  and  discussions.) 

Nay  lor,  "  Unoccupied  Mission  Fields  in  Africa,"  in  The 
Missionary  Review,  March,  1906. 

Karl  Kumm,  "  The  Call  of  the  Sudan,"  in  The  Mission- 
ary Review,  January,  1907. 

Karl  Kumm,  "  The  Sudan."     London,  1907. 

Colonel  G.  Wingate,  "  Unevangelized  Regions  in  Cen- 
tral Asia,"  in  The  Missionary  Review  of  the  World,  May, 
1907. 

Harlan  P.  Beach,  "  Geography  and  Atlas  of  Protestant 
Missions."  See  pp.  493-515  in  the  Geography. 

SOME  RECENT  ARTICLES  ON  MOHAMMEDAN 
LANDS  AND  WORK  IN  THE  MISSIONARY 
REVIEW  OF  THE  WORLD. 

Islam  and  Christian  Missions,  Rev.  Jas.  S.  Dennis,  D.D., 
August,  1889. 

A  Glimpse  of  Moslem  Homes,  Rev.  Geo.  E.  Post,  De- 
cember, 1901. 

Notes  on  Islam  in  India,  James  Monro,  May,  1903. 

The  Malay  Archipelago,  H.  Grattan  Guinness,  D.D., 
May,  1898. 

Moslem  Women,  Mrs.  S.  G.  Wrilson,  December,  1901. 

Islam  in  Persia,  Rev.  S.  Lawrence  Wrard,  May,  1903. 

Signs  of  the  Times  in  Islam,  Henry  Otis  Dwight,  LL.D., 
November,  1903. 


146  MOSLEM  LANDS 

The  Effort  to  Reform  Islam,  Mohammed  Sarfaraz  Khan, 
August,  1902. 

The  Moslem  Attitude  toward  Christian  Missions  in  the 
Holy  Land,  Rev.  Arthur  J.  Brown,  D.D.,  December, 
1902. 

In  Darkest  Morocco,  George  C.  Reed,  June,  1902. 

The  Gospel  in  North  Africa,  Rev.  John  Rutherfurd,  B.D., 
June,  1893. 

Christian  Forces  at  Work  in  the  Turkish  Empire,  Rev. 
Edward  Riggs,  D.D.,  October,  1901. 

Fifteen  Years  of  Progress  in  Egypt,  Rev.  J.  K.  Giffen, 
October,  1904. 

A  Mohammedan  View  of  the  Mohammedan  World, 
Anon.,  October,  1899. 

A  Saint  in  Sumatra  (Hester  Needham),  January,  1900. 

The  Gospel  in  Persia,  Rev.  W.  St.  Clair  Tisdall,  M.A., 
October,  1898. 

An  Appeal  for  Hadramaut,  Arabia,  Rev.  S.  M.  Zwemer, 
October,  1902. 

The  Revival  of  Islam,  Canon  Edward  Sell,  D.D.,  Octo- 
ber, 1902. 

How  to  Win  Moslems  for  Christ,  various  authors,  Octo- 
ber, 1904. 

The  Normal  State  of  Affairs  in  Turkey,  Its  Bearing  on 
Missionary  Work,  Anon.,  October,  1904. 

Open  Doors  in  Oman,  Arabia,  Rev.  S.  M.  Zwemer,  May, 
1901. 

How  Abd-ul-Hamid  II.  became  the  Great  Assassin,  Octo- 
ber, 1898. 

Babism —  The  Latest  Revolt  from  Islam,  October,  1898. 

ILLUSTRATIVE   SELECTIONS 

A  Moslem  "  Endless  Chain  Letter."  —  The  following 
curious  epistle  was  brought  to  West  Africa  and  into  the 
Gold  Coast  Colony  by  a  pilgrim  from  Mecca,  and  is  now 
being  passed  from  hand  to  hand  among  the  people.  It 
attracts  much  attention.  Whoever  reads  it  is  expected  to 
pass  it  on  to  his  next  friend,  or  to  copy  it  and  hand  it  on 
to  several.  The  people,  like  those  who  receive  u  endless 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS  TO  BE  DONE     147 

chain  "  letters  in  this  country,  feel  constrained  to  send 
the  document  on,  because  the  letter  insists  that  they  may 
not  break  the  chain :  — 

"In  the  name  of  God,  the  Merciful  and  Compas- 
sionate :  — 

"  Blessed  be  Mohammed,  his  family  and  his  people,  on 
whom  with  all  holy  prophets  may  peace  rest. 

"  This  letter  is  written  for  all  true  believers  living  on 
the  west  of  the  desert.  It  comes  from  the  holy  men  of 
Mecca,  who  seek  to  follow  the  paths  of  righteousness, 
from  the  disciples  of  the  holy  Abd  ul  Kadir,  to  whom  be 
glory  forever,  and  from  those  who  walk  in  the  footsteps 
of  Abd  Illahi  and  Abd-ur-Rahman.1 

"  Take  heed  to  its  contents. 

"  During  his  long  sleep  our  Lord  Mohammed  has  seen 
that  our  world  and  all  that  is  in  it  will  certainly  be  de- 
stroyed. 

"  We  beseech  Thee,  O  Almighty  God,  for  the  sake  of 
Mohammed  and  his  family,  save  us  !  ...  (Here  follow 
promises  and  threats  to  accept  Islam.) 

"In  conclusion :  Whoever  receives  this  letter  must 
needs  pass  it  on  to  another  district  under  pain  of  hell 
fire.  Before  long  the  gate  of  repentance  will  shut  itself 
forever.  Repent !  The  day  of  Judgment  is  near ! 
Fast;  give  alms;  pray.  Whoever  reads  this  letter  to  his 
brother  shall  be  rewarded  for  it;  paradise  shall  be  his 
portion  ;  in  the  Day  of  Judgment  he  shall  not  be  judged. 
Whoever,  on  the  other  hand,  neglects  to  do  it,  shall  be 
sent  with  the  idolaters  into  the  seventh  hell.  Pray; 
fast ;  and  pay  tithes,  without  which  you  will  not  be  re- 
ceived into  paradise.  God  will  not  disappoint  those  who 
follow  His  paths.  It  is  finished."  —  Condensed  from 
The  Missionary  Review  of  the  World,  September,  1905. 

Our  Duty.  —  "The  Church  must  awake  to  her  duty 
towards  Islam.  Who  will  wake  her  and  keep  her 
awake,  unless  it  be  those  who  have  heard  the  chal- 
lenge of  Islam,  and  who,  going  out  against  her,  have 

1  These  are  names  of  saints  of  the  Dervish  orders. 


148  MOSLEM  LANDS 

found  her  armour  decayed,  her  weapons  antiquated,  and 
her  children,  though  proud  and  reticent,  still  unhappy ; 
stationary  or  retrogressive  in  a  day  of  progress  and  life. 
Happy  are  we  to  have  a  share  in  this  great  movement. 
Woe  unto  us  if  we  are  timid  and  fearful,  on  the  one  hand, 
or  tactless  and  imprudent,  on  the  other.  We  are  those 
who  need  wisdom  and  zeal  —  the  wisdom  that  will  do 
nothing  unwise,  the  zeal  that  will  not  let  wisdom  be  so 
cautious  as  to  do  nothing."  —  ROBERT  E.  SPEER. 

Why  the  Gospel  is  a  "Hard  Saying  "to  Moslems. — "The 
manifold  and  irksome  ceremonies  that  constitute  part  of 
the  daily  life  of  a  Mohammedan,  not  only  mean  a  return 
to  that  bondage  from  which  mature  man  should  be  free, 
but  they  are  thought  to  constitute  an  obligation  to  be 
repaid  by  the  Deity.  The  fact  that  a  Mohammedan  will 
probably  have  performed  them  regularly  from  boyhood, 
constitutes  a  serious  bar  to  missionary  effort ;  for  it  turns 
him  who  would  fain  bring  good  tidings  into  a  messenger 
of  bad  news.  His  message  is  that  all  this  credit  is  imagi- 
nary ;  the  sum  amassed  by  such  long  exertions  does  not 
exist.  Go  and  tell  the  bankers  in  Lombard  Street  that 
the  gold  coin  in  their  vaults  and  those  of  the  Bank  of 
England  is  all  counterfeit ;  that  the  slightest  test  will  ex- 
pose it;  that  in  a  few  days  or  hours  no  one  will  give 
commodities  in  exchange  for  it.  He  who  brought  such  a 
message  now  would  simply  incur  ridicule ;  for  the  owners 
of  the  coin  could  immediately  convince  themselves  that 
the  tale  was  false.  But  supposing  that  they  knew  in  their 
secret  hearts  that  it  was  true  ;  that  they  dare  not  go  down 
into  the  vaults  or  test  the  coin,  for  fear  it  should  show 
base  color ;  that  numerous  incidents  coming  into  their 
memory  all  confirmed  the  news.  What  in  that  case 
would  happen  to  such  a  messenger?  Even  to-day  he 
would  not  be  safe  from  pistol  or  dagger. 

"And  it  is  precisely  such  a  message  as  that  which  the 
Christian  missionary  brings  to  those  who  all  their  lives 
have  supposed  that  the  five  daily  prayers,  and  the  fasting 
month,  and  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  are  the  service 
which  God  desires.  They  have  to  be  told  that  all  this  is 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS  TO  BE  DONE  149 

of  no  value ;  that  what  God  requires  of  them  is  something 
very  different,  and  far  less  flattering  to  their  vanity  ;  and 
that  even  so,  what  their  discharge  of  it  will  represent  is 
not  assets,  but  a  deficit.  <  When  ye  have  done  all,  say, 
"  We  are  unprofitable  servants." ' 

"  And  if  the  message  of  the  Gospel  be  in  any  case  that  of 
bankruptcy  before  it  can  tell  of  the  greater  and  truer  riches, 
what  must  be  the  character  of  the  message  to  those  whose 
lives  have  been  spent  in  discussing  the  minutiae  of  those 
childish  rites,  and  whose  profession  is  thought  to  be  the 
most  honourable  that  a  man  can  follow  ?  Truly  it  can 
only  be  the  grace  of  God  that  makes  the  blind  to  see  and 
the  deaf  to  hear."  —  PROFESSOR  MARGOLIOUTH,  of  Ox- 
ford, rn  the  C.  M.  S.  Intelligencer. 

THE  LOST  SHEEP  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  ISHMAEL 

" '  O  tender  Shepherd,  climbing  rugged  mountains, 

And  wading  waters  deep, 

How  long  would'st  Thou  be  willing  to  go  homeless 
To  find  a  straying  sheep  ? ' 

" ' 1  count  no  time,'  the  Shepherd  gently  answered, 

'  As  thou  dost  count  and  bind 
The  days  in  weeks,  the  weeks  in  months ;  My 

counting 
Is  just  —  until  I  find. 

" l  And  that  would  be  the  limit  of  My  journey. 

I'd  cross  the  waters  deep, 

And  climb  the  hillsides  with  unfailing  patience  — 
Until  I  found  My  sheep.'  " 

—  Selected. 

"  Ask  and  Ye  shall  Receive."  —  "  Let  us  have  another 
triumph  of  prayer.  If  the  Church  of  Christ  will  march 
around  this  mighty  fortress  of  the  Mohammedan  faith, 
sounding  her  silver  trumpets  of  prayer,  it  will  not  be  long 
before,  by  some  intervention  of  divine  power,  it  will  be 
overthrown.  Let  it  be  one  of  the  watchwords  of  the 


150  MOSLEM  LANDS 

Church,  that  Christ,  the  Child  of  the  Orient,  and  the  divine 
Heir  of  her  tribes  and  kingdoms,  shall  possess  His  inherit- 
ance. The  Moslem  world  shall  be  open  to  the  gracious 
entrance  of  the  Saviour  and  the  triumphs  of  the  Gospel. 
The  spell  of  twelve  centuries  shall  be  broken.  That  voice 
from  the  Arabian  desert  shall  no  longer  say  to  the  Church 
of  the  living  God,  Thus  far  and  no  farther.  The  deep 
and  sad  delusion  which  shadows  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  life  of  so  many  millions  of  our  fellow-men  shall 
be  dispelled,  and  the  blessed  life-giving  power  of  Christ's 
religion  shall  supplant  all  the  dead  forms  and  the  out- 
worn creed  of  Islam."  —  JAMES  S.  DENNIS,  D.D. 

Men  Wanted.  —  "We  need  the  best  men  the  Qhurch 
can  afford  —  men  who,  in  the  spirit  of  Henry  Martyn, 
Isidor  Loewenthal,  Ion  Keith  Falconer,  Bishop  French, 
Peter  Zwemer,  and  many  others  gone  to  their  reward, 
hold  not  their  lives  dear ;  men  who  carry  the  burden 
of  these  millions  of  Moslems  upon  their  hearts,  and 
with  Abraham  of  old  cry  out:  O,  that  Ishmael  might 
live  before  thee  ! "  —  EDWARD  MORRIS  WHERRY. 

An  Appeal.  — "  The  number  of  Moslem  women  is  so 
vast  —  not  less  than  one  hundred  million  —  that  any 
adequate  effort  to  meet  the  need  must  be  on  a  scale  far 
wider  than  has  ever  yet  been  attempted. 

"  We  do  not  suggest  new  organizations,  but  that  every 
church  and  Board  of  Missions  at  present  working  in 
Moslem  lands  should  take  up  their  own  women's  branch 
of  the  work  with  an  altogether  new  ideal  before  them,  de- 
termining to  reach  the  whole  world  of  Moslem  women  in 
this  generation.  Each  part  of  the  women's  work  being 
already  carried  on  needs  to  be  widely  extended.  Trained 
and  consecrated  women  doctors,  trained  and  consecrated 
women  teachers,  groups  of  women  workers  in  the  villages, 
an  army  of  those  with  love  in  their  hearts  to  seek  and 
save  the  lost.  And  with  the  willingness  to  take  up  this 
burden,  so  long  neglected,  for  the  salvation  of  Mohamme- 
dan women,  even  though  it  may  prove  a  very  Cross  of 
Calvary  to  some  of  us,  we  shall  hear  our  Master's  voice 
afresh,  with  ringing  words  of  encouragment :  '  Have  faith 


WORK  THAT  REMAINS   TO  BE  DONE     151 

in  God ;  for  verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  whosoever  shall  say 
unto  this  mountain,  "  Be  thou  removed,  and  be  thou  cast 
into  the  sea,"  and  shall  not  doubt  in  his  heart,  but  shall 
believe  that  these  things  which  he  saith  shall  come  to  pass, 
he  shall  have  whatsoever  he  saith/"  —  Appeal  of  the 
Women  Delegates  at  the  Cairo  Conference. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  SOME  IMPOR- 
TANT EVENTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  ISLAM 
AND  MISSIONS  TO  MOSLEMS 

A.D. 

570.  Birth  of  Mohammed  at  Mecca. 

595.  Yemen  passes  under  Persian  rule. 

610.  Mohammed  begins  his  prophetic  career. 

622.  The  Hegira  or  flight  of  Mohammed  from  Mecca 

to  Medina.     (A.H.  1.) 

623.  Battle  of  Bedr. 

624.  Battle  of  Ohod. 

628.  Reputed  mission  of  Abi  Kabsha  to  China. 

630.  Mecca  entered  and  conquered. 

632.  Death  of  Mohammed.     Abu  Bekr,  first  Caliph. 

634.  Omar  Caliph.     Jews  and  Christians  expelled  from 
Arabia. 

636.  Capture  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Caliph  Omar. 

637.  Conquest  of  Syria. 

638.  Kufa  and  Busrah  founded. 

640.    Capture  of  Alexandria  by  Omar. 

642.    Conquest  of  Persia. 

644.    Othman  Caliph. 

661.    Ali  assassinated.     Hassan  becomes  Caliph. 

711.    Tarik  crosses  the  straits  from  Africa  to  Europe, 

and  calls  the  mountain,  Jebel  Tarik  =  Gibraltar. 
711.    Mohammed  Kasim  overruns  Sindh  (India)  in  the 

name  of  Walid  I.  of  Damascus. 
732.    Battle  of  Tours.     Europe  saved  from  Islam. 
742.    First  mosque  built  in  North  China. 
754.    Mansur. 

756-1258.    Abbasid  Caliphs  at  Bagdad. 
786.    Haroun  er-Rashid  Caliph  of  Bagdad. 
153 


154  MOSLEM  LANDS 

A.D. 

809.    Amin. 

813.    Mamun. 

833.   Motasim.    Islam  spread  in  Transoxania. 

847.   Mutawakkel. 

889.    Rise  of  Carmathian  sect. 

930.    Carmathians  take  Mecca  and  carry  away  the  .Black 

Stone  to  Katif. 

1000.    Islam  invades  India  from  the  North. 
1005.    Preaching  of  Sheikh  Ismail  at  Lahore,  India. 
1019.    Mahmud  Ghazni,  champion  of  Islam  in  India. 
1037-1300.    Seljuk  Turks. 
1055.    Togrul  Beg  at  Bagdad. 
1063.    Alp  Arslan,  Seljukian  Turkish  Prince. 
1077.    Timbuktu  founded.     Islam  in  western  Sudan. 
1096-1272.    The  Crusades. 
1169-1193.    Saladin. 

1176-1206.    Mohammed  Ghori  conquers  Bengal. 
1276.    Islam  introduced  into  Malacca. 
1299-1326.    Reign    of    Othman,    founder    of    Ottoman 

dynasty. 

1305.    Preaching  and  spread  of  Islam  in  the  Deccan. 
1315.    Raymund  Lull,  first  missionary  to  Moslems,  stoned 

to  death  at  Bugia,  Tunis. 
1330.    Institution  of  the  Janissaries. 
1353.    First  entrance  of  the  Turks  into  Europe. 
1369-1405.    Tamerlane. 
1389.    Islam  begins  to  spread  in  Servia. 
1398.    Tamerlane  invades  India. 
1450.   Missionary  activity  of  Islam  in  Java  begins. 
1453.    Capture  of  Constantinople  by  Mohammed  II. 
1492.    Discovery  of   America.     End  of   Moslem  rule  in 

Spain  by  defeat  of  Boabdil  at  Grenada. 
1500.    Spread  of  Islam  in  Siberia. 
1507.    The  Portuguese  take  Muscat. 
1517.    Selim  I.  conquers  Egypt  and  wrests  caliphate  from 

Arab  line  of  Koreish  for  Ottoman  sultans. 
1525-1707.    Mogul  Empire  in  India. 
1538.    Suleiman  the  Magnificent  takes  Aden  by  treachery. 
1540.    Beginning  of  Turkish  rule  in  Yemen. 
1556.    Akbar  the  Great  rules  in  India. 


CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE  155 

A.D. 

1603.   Islam  enters  Celebes  and  New  Guinea. 

1627.    Shah  Jehan,  Mogul  ruler  in  India. 

1630.    Arabs  drive  out  Turks  from  Yemen. 

1659-1707.   Aurangzeb  in  India. 

1683.  Final  check  of  Turks  at  gates  of  Vienna  by  John 
Sobieski,  king  of  Poland,  September  12.  Eastern 
Europe  saved  from  Islam  rule. 

1691.    Mohammed  bin  Abd  ul  Wahab  born. 

1739-1761.  Afghan  Mohammed  invasion  of  India  and 
sack  of  Delhi. 

1740-1780.  Wahabi  reform  spreads  over  all  southern  and 
central  Arabia  except  Oman. 

1757.    Battle  of  Plassey.     British  Empire  in  India. 

1801.    Wahabi  s  invade  Bagdad  vilayet  and  sack  Kerbela. 

1803.    Mecca  taken  by  the  Wahabis. 

1806.    Henry  Martyn  reaches  India. 

1820-1847.  British  treaties  with  Moslem  chiefs  in  Per- 
sian Gulf. 

1820.  Levi  Parsons  and  Pliny  Fiske,  first  missionaries 
from  America,  reach  Smyrna. 

1822.    American  Mission  Press  founded  in  Malta. 

1826.  C.  M.  S.  attempt  a  mission  in  Egypt. 

1827.  Dr.  Eli  Smith  begins  translation  of  Arabic  Bible. 
1839.    Aden  bombarded  by  British  fleet  and  taken. 

1857.  Indian  (Sepoy)  Mutiny. 

1356.    End  of  Crimean  War.     Treaty  of  Paris. 

1858.  Bombardment  of  Jiddah  by  the  British. 

1860.  Civil  war  in  the  Lebanon  s.  Dr.  Van  Dyck's  trans- 
lation of  Arabic  N.  T.  issued. 

1863.  Syrian  Protestant  College  founded. 

1866.  First  Girls'  Boarding  School,  Cairo. 

1869.  Corner-stone  laid  of  Roberts  College. 

1870.  Second  Turkish  invasion  of  Yemen. 
1875.  C.  M.  S.  begin  mission  work  in  Persia. 

1878.  Treaty  of    Berlin.      Independence    of    Bulgaria. 

England  occupies  Cyprus. 

1879.  Royal    Niger    Company   founded.      (Britain    in 

Africa.) 

1881.  Rise  of  the  Mahdi  near  Khartum. 

1882.  Massacre  of  Europeans  at  Alexandria. 


156  MOSLEM  LANDS 

A.  D. 

1882.  British  occupation  of  Egypt.     C.  M.  S.  Mission. 

1883.  Defeat  of  Anglo-Egyptian  forces  to  the  Mahdi. 
1883.  Mission  work  began  at  Bagdad. 

1885.  Fall  of  Khartum.    Murder  of  Gordon. 

1885.  Keith  Falconer  Mission  began  at  Aden. 

1889.  The  (American)  Arabian  Mission  organized. 

1889.  Mahdi  invasion  of  Egypt. 

1890.  Anglo-French  protectorate  over  Sahara. 

1891.  Bishop  French  died  at  Muscat,  May  14. 

1892.  French  annex  Dahomey  and  conquer  Timbuktu. 

1893.  Mirza  Ibrahim  martyred  in  Persia. 

1894.  Anglo-French-German  delimitation  of  Sudan. 

1895.  Rebellion  of  Arabs  against  the  Turks  in  Yemen. 

1895.  Great  Armenian  Massacres. 

1896.  Massacre  at  Harpoot. 

1898.  Fall  of  the  Mahdi.     Occupation  of  the  Sudan. 

1900.  British  Protectorate    declared  over  Nigeria  and 

Hausa-land. 

1906.  The  Algeciras  Conference  regarding  Morocco. 

1906.  The  first  general  Missionary  Conference  on  behalf 

of  the  Mohammedan  world  held  at  Cairo. 

—  Condensed  from  "  Islam  a  Challenge  to  Faith." 


SIAM 


BY 

THE  REV.   ARTHUR  JUDSON  BROWK,  D.D. 

AUTHOR  OF 

44  NEW  FORCES  IN  OLD  CHINA,"  "THE  NEW  ERA  IN  THE 
PHILIPPINES,"  uTiiE  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY," 

AND 
WHY  AND  How  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS" 


CHAPTER  V 
SIAM 

THE   COUNTRY 

SIAM  is  an  irregularly  shaped  country,  the  Siam 
main  part  of  which  lies  between  the  twelfth 
and  twenty-first  parallels  of  latitude,  but  which 
sends  a  long  peninsula  southward  to  within 
four  degrees  of  the  equator.  It  is  bounded  on 
the  north  by  the  British  Shan  States  and  the 
French  Tong  King;  on  the  east  by  Anam  and 
Cambodia,  also  French;  on  the  south  by  the 
Gulf  of  Siam  and  the  Federated  Malay  States 
(British);  and  on  the  west  by  the  Indian 
Ocean  and  British  Burma.  Except,  therefore, 
for  a  part  of  the  peninsula,  the  country  is  com- 
pletely hemmed  in  by  the  French  and  British, 
'though  there  is  a  coast-line  on  the  Gulf  of  Siam 
and  Indian  Ocean  of  1760  miles.  Siam  has  lost 
considerable  territory  to  France  in  recent  years, 
but  the  country  is  still  far  from  being  insignifi- 
cant in  size.  It  is  1130  miles  long,  508  miles 
wide  along  the  fifteenth  parallel,  and  the  area 
is  220,000  square  miles.  In  other  words,  it  is 
about  as  large  as  Japan  and  Korea  combined, 
larger  than  Germany,  and  about  equal  to  the 
combined  area  of  the  American  States  of  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Ohio,  Dela- 
ware, Maryland,  and  all  six  of  the  New  Eng- 
land States. 

159 


160  SIAM 

Climate  The  climate  is  tropical.     The  writer  was  in 

Siam  in  the  late  fall  and  winter,  which  are 
called  "  the  cool,  healthy  season."  The  condi- 
tions, however,  were  about  those  of  an  Ameri- 
can July.  The  nights  were  fairly  cool,  and  on  a 
few  exceptional  mornings  the  thermometer  fell 
to  56  degrees  ;  but  on  seven  typical  January 
days,  the  midday  heat  averaged  70  in  the  shade 
and  136  in  the  sun.  The  Laos  "  cool  season  " 
is  about  that  of  a  New  York  May  —  a  decided 
improvement  on  the  midsummer  "  winter "  of 
Siam.  Cholera,  which  is  always  present  in 
Bangkok,  occurs  only  in  rare,  sporadic  cases  in 
Chieng  Mai,  and  then  only  as  the  result  of 
infection  from  Lower  Siam,  while  dysentery 
is  more  infrequent  than  in  China.  The  cool 
season,  however,  is  short.  Malarial  fever  is 
common,  as  it  is  everywhere  in  southern  Asia, 
and  the  isolation  begets  in  some  persons  a  lone- 
liness which  is  more  trying  than  disease. 

The  climate  is  not  bad,  however,  for  the 
tropics,  and  the  most  dreaded  diseases  result 
from  causes  which  a  missionary  can  ordinarily 
avoid.  The  general  health  of  the  missionaries 
in  Siam  and  Laos  has  been  about  as  good  as 
that  of  missionaries  in  China,  though  more 
frequent  furloughs  are  necessary.  Dr.  Dean 
wrote  at  the  age  of  nearly  fourscore :  "  Do  not 
represent  the  climate  of  Siam  as  insalubrious. 
People  die  here ;  so  they  do  everywhere  else, 
except  in  heaven.  The  report  that  Siam  is  un- 
healthful  is  a  libel  on  the  climate."  The  best 
season  for  the  visitor  is  between  the  first  of 


THE  COUNTRY  161 

October  and  the  middle  of  February.  From 
the  latter  date  to  May  is  the  hottest  and  un- 
healthiest  season.  Moreover,  until  the  comple- 
tion of  the  railway,  Laos  could  not  be  visited 
in  these  months  on  account  of  low  water  in  the 
Me  Nam  and  Me  Ping  rivers.  From  June 
to  October,  heavy  rains  and  inundated  roads 
render  travel  unhealthful  and  impracticable. 
We  may  add  that  there  are  no  inns  in  Laos,  so 
that  the  traveller  should  provide  himself  with  a 
tent  and  camp  equipage. 

Physically,  the  northern  part  of  Siam  is  Physical 
greatly  diversified.  It  is  a  land  of  mountains  Ge°sraPhy 
and  valleys  and  rushing  streams,  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  regions  in  the  world.  The  cen- 
tral and  southern  part  is  more  level,  a  vast 
area  being  occupied  by  the  broad,  flat  valley 
and  delta  of  the  Me  Nam  River.  This  mighty 
stream  is  fed  by  many  smaller  ones,  which  rise 
among  the  mountains  of  Laos.  At  Paknampo 
it  receives  the  waters  of  the  largest  of  its  tribu- 
taries, the  Me  Ping.  The  Me  Nam  is  the  great 
highway  of  Siam,  and  for  centuries  has  been 
the  only  means  of  communication  between  the 
north  and  the  south.  It  is  navigable,  at  high 
water,  for  light-draught  steamers  as  far  as 
Paknampo,  and  for  some  distance  above  that 
point  by  launches.  In  the  dry  season,  how- 
ever, the  water  becomes  so  shallow  that  only 
the  small  native  boats  can  be  used.  East  of  the 
Me  Nam  valley  there  is  an  elevated  plateau. 
The  other  great  river,  the  Me  Kawng,  runs 
along  the  eastern  boundary  of  Siam.  This 


162  SIAM 

also  is  a  very  long  stream,  but  its  course  is 
broken  by  so  many  rapids  and  obstructions 
that  it  is  not  navigable.  The  southern  penin- 
sula is  traversed  almost  its  entire  length  by  a 
mountain  range  of  moderate  height,  although 
there  are  spacious  grassy  tracts  near  the  coast. 
Generally  speaking,  we  may  characterize  the 
northern  part  of  Siam  as  a  hill  country ;  the 
eastern  part  as  a  table-land ;  the  central  part  as 
an  alluvial  plain ;  and  the  southern  part  as  a 
mountainous  peninsula. 

Flora  The  soil  is,  for   the  most   part,  exceedingly 

rich.  The  tropical  climate  and  abundant  rain- 
fall nourish  a  prolific  vegetation,  except  on 
the  eastern  table-land,  which  is  not  so  well 
watered.  The  delta  of  the  Me  Nam  is  clothed 
with  a  dense  growth  of  tall  jungle  grasses  and 
bushes.  In  the  north,  and  also  on  the  peninsula, 
there  are  vast  forests,  which  include  some  rare 
and  valuable  woods.  The  chief  part  of  the 
world's  supply  of  teak  comes  from  here,  and 
British  trading  companies  have  agents  all 
through  this  region,  getting  out  this  greatly 
prized  lumber  under  concessions  from  the  gov- 
ernment. 

Everywhere  one  sees  palms  of  many  varieties, 
and  almost  every  imaginable  kind  of  tropical 
plants,  vines,  and  flowers. 

Products  The  staple  products  of  the  country  are  lumber 

in  the  north,  tin  in  the  Malay  Peninsula,  where 
some  of  the  greatest  tin  mines  of  the  world  are 
located;  rice  in  the  valleys,  particularly  on  the 
rich  delta  of  the  Me  Nam;  and  everywhere,  in 


THE    PEOPLE  163 

unlimited  quantities,  bananas,  cocoanuts,  limes, 
yams,  and  other  tropical  and  semi-tropical  fruits 
and  vegetables. 

The  chief  exports  are  rice,  teak,  and  tin,  and  Exports  and 
the  chief  imports,  we  are  sorry  to  note,  are  wine,  ImP°rts- 
beer,  spirits,  and  opium.     Siam  thus  gives  to 
the  Christian  world  better  products  than  she 
receives. 

THE   PEOPLE 

The  native  inhabitants  of  Siam  belong  to  the  Races 
Tai  (or  Shan)  race,  whose  original  home  was 
in  central  and  southern  China.  They  were  not 
Chinese,  being  more  nearly  allied  to  the  Aryan 
races  of  India  than  to  the  Mongolian.  They 
probably  retreated  before  the  stronger  Chinese. 
They  are  now  scattered  over  the  whole  Indo- 
Chinese  Peninsula.  Dialectic  differences  sub- 
divide this  race  as  follows  :  — 

1.  Eastern  Shan  (or  Tai):    those  living  in  the 

territory  drained  by  the  Me  Kawng  River 
and  the  northern  tributaries  of  the  Me  Nam 
River. 

2.  Western  Shan  (or  Tai) :  those  living  in  the 

territory  drained  by  the  Salween  and 
Irrawaddy  rivers. 

3.  Siamese  (or  southern  Tai):   those  living  in 

southern  Siam. 

NOTE.  — The  word  "  Tai "  is  used  by  all  of  these  peoples 
when  giving  the  name  of  their  race.  It  means  "free." 
"  Shan  "  is  the  English  equivalent  of  a  Burmese  word  to  des- 
ignate the  people  of  the  Tai  race.  The  local  terms  used  are 
legion;  e.g.  "  Tai  Nua"  (northern  Tai),  those  living  in 
southwest  China;  "Lem,"  those  living  in  Muang  Lem; 


164 


SIAM 


"Chao  Yawng,"  those  living  in  Muang  Yawng ;  "  Chao 
Chieng  Mai,"  those  living  in  Chieng  Mai;  "Lao,"  those 
living  in  Luang  Prabang  and  adjoining  provinces  ;  Lii-Kun- 
Yuen,  etc.  The  word  "Laos"  is  from  "Lao,"  the  term 
applied  by  the  Siamese  to  all  those  classified  under  subdivi- 
sion 1. 

Population  It  is  not  easy  to  get  accurate  statistics  of 
population,  as  Asiatics  are  not  as  particular 
as  Americans  in  taking  a  census,  and  usually 
count  only  the  men  and  guess  at  the  women 
and  children.  The  best  estimate  is  6,070,000. 
The  population  is  far  from  being  homogene- 
ous. The  table  given  notes  only  the  subdivi- 
sions of  the  Tai  race.  The  following  table 
gives  the  other  elements  of  the  population,  the 
Laos  being  included  for  statistical  purposes : 

Siamese 1,766,000 

Chinese 1,400,000 

Laos 1,350,000 

Malays 753,000 

Cambodians  and  Annamites     ....  490,000 

Mons 130,000 

Karens 130,000 

Shans  (chiefly  Western  Shans  from  Burma)  .  46,000 
A  few  minor  tribes  and  a  small  number  of 

Europeans  and  Americans    ....  5,000 

6,070,000 


Physical 
Characteris- 
tics 


The  Siamese  are,  of  course,  the  dominant 
race.  They  are  about  medium  in  height  and 
physical  development,  brown  in  color,  with 
straight  black  hair,  cut  short,  slightly  flattened 
nose,  and  eyes  not  so  oblique  as  those  of  the 
Chinese  and  Japanese. 


THE   PEOPLE  165 

The  Laos-speaking  people  extend  from  The  People 
Utradit  on  the  south  to  Chieng  Hoong  on  the  of  Laos 
north,  and  from  the  Nam  Ur  River  on  the  east 
to  the  Salween-Me  Kawng  watershed  on  the 
west.  They  overflow  these  boundaries  on  all 
four  sides,  but  beyond  them  they  shade  off 
rapidly  into  other  tribes,  so  that  for  practical 
purposes  the  limits  named  are  approximately 
correct.  With  the  exception  of  a  small  number 
of  Burmese  Shans  who  are  scattered  among 
them,  the  Laos  have  practically  exclusive  pos- 
session of  this  extensive  area.  As  we  have 
already  noted,  there  are  1,350,000  of  these 
people  in  northern  Siam,  but  there  are  several 
hundred  thousand  more  in  French  territory 
east  of  the  Cambodia  and  several  hundred 
thousand  others  in  British  territory  in  the  Shan 
States.  They  differ  from  the  Siamese  in  lan- 
guage, dress,  and  many  customs  and  characteris- 
tics. The  missionaries  among  them  insist  that 
they  are  superior  to  the  Siamese  in  intelligence 
and  character.  Politically,  however,  the  latter 
appear  to  have  no  difficulty  in  maintaining  their 
supremacy.  The  author  found  the  Laos  the 
most  attractive  people  in  Asia.  They  are  clean, 
speaking  comparatively  of  course,  kindly,  in- 
telligent, and  far  more  responsive  to  new  reli- 
gious teaching  than  the  Siamese. 

The   Chinese,  next  to  the  Siamese,  are  the  Chinese 
most  numerous  race  in  Siam.     They  are  to  be 
found  all  over  the  country.     The  Bangkok  re- 
turns   for  the   poll-tax  in    1900    gives   65,345 
adult  males  for  that  city  alone.     It  is  difficult 


166  SIAM 

to  give  exact  figures  anywhere,  for  the  Chinese 
have  been  coming  to  Siam  for  so  long  a  period 
and  have  intermarried  with  the  natives  to  such 
an  extent  that  a  large  part  of  the  population 
now  contains  more  or  less  Chinese  blood.  The 
King  himself  is  said  to  be  part  Chinese.  The 
blending  of  races  is  very  noticeable  in  the  mis- 
sion schools,  a  majority  of  the  scholars  usually 
having  some  Chinese  blood.  The  queue  is 
everywhere  in  evidence,  being  often  worn  by 
those  who  are  only  a  quarter  Chinese,  partly 
because  the  Chinese  in  Siam  are  recognized  as 
the  strongest  and  wealthiest  element  in  the 
country,  partly  because  the  law,  instead  of  dis- 
criminating against  them,  really  favors  them 
by  exempting  them  from  certain  burdens  which 
bear  heavily  upon  the  Siamese.  As  in  Burma 
and  the  Philippine  Islands,  the  Chinese  almost 
absolutely  control  the  trade  of  the  kingdom. 
Every  arriving  steamer  brings  scores  and  some- 
times hundreds  from  Canton,  Swatow,  Foochow, 
and  Hainan,  while  in  Laos  the  Yunnanese 
traders  are  to  be  seen  in  every  important  town. 
These  Chinese  immigrants  are  introducing  a 
more  virile  strain  into  the  blood  of  Siam.  They 
bring  a  stronger  fibre,  greater  skill  and  energy 
and  persistence,  and  by  their  intermarriage  with 
the  Siamese  are  in  a  measure  communicating 
these  qualities  to  them. 

Other  Races  The  other  elements  of  the  population  need  not 
detain  us,  further  than  to  note  that  the  Cambodi- 
ans and  Annamites  have  crossed  the  Me  Kawng 
River  from  their  original  home  and,  like  the 


THE   PEOPLE  167 

Chinese,  readily  mingle  with,  the  Siamese,  and 
that  the  Malays  are  chiefly  to  be  found  in  the 
south  and  on  the  Malay  Peninsula. 

The  Siamese  lack  the  persistence  and  Indus-  Charac- 
try  of  the  Chinese.  Here,  as  in  Burma  and  the  teristics 
Philippines,  a  tropical  climate  begets  indolence, 
and  reduces  wants  to  a  degree  which  prolific 
nature  readily  supplies.  It  is  therefore  not  sur- 
prising that  people  take  life  easily.  They  need 
but  little  clothing  in  their  warm  climate,  and  no 
fuel  except  for  cooking.  Fish  are  easily  caught 
in  the  sea  and  the  innumerable  streams.  The 
banana,  cocoanut,  betel,  mango,  pomelo,  or- 
ange, jackfruit,  and  lime  grow  with  little  or  no 
cultivation,  while  the  simplest  tillage  suffices  for 
abundant  yields  of  rice  and  vegetables.  As  for 
a  house,  one  can  be  built  of  the  ever-present 
bamboo  and  thatched  with  attap  in  a  couple  of 
days  and  at  practically  no  cost. 

The  population  is  so  small  for  the  area  of  the  Distribution 
country  that  there  is  no  such  struggle  for  exist- 
ence as  that  which  developed  the  vigor  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  on  the  rocky  hillsides  of  New 
England,  or  of  the  Chinese  on  those  densely  pop- 
ulated plains  where  the  individual  must  toil 
alertly  and  incessantly  or  starve.  The  bitter 
poverty  of  China  and  Korea  is  unknown  in  Siam. 
The  typical  Siamese  is  sleek  and  well-fed,  and 
he  wears  more  gold  and  silver  ornaments  than 
any  other  native  of  Asia,  even  naked  urchins 
playing  in  the  streets  being  adorned  with  solid 
silver  anklets,  wristlets,  and  necklaces. 

In  these  circumstances,  we  marvel  not  that 


168  SIAM 

Extraordi-  the  people  are  so  backward,  but  that  they  are  so 
nary  Ad-  forward,  and  that  they  have  made  improvements 
which  cannot  be  paralleled  in  any  other  Asi- 
atic country  except  Japan.  In  China,  Korea, 
and  the  Philippines,  there  are  improvements 
where  foreigners  have  made  them.  But  in 
Chieng  Mai  we  were  driven  for  hours  over  roads 
which  were  an  amazement  and  a  delight  after 
the  ridges  and  hollows  which  are  euphemisti- 
cally called  roads  in  China.  At  Pitsanuloke, 
250  miles  from  Bangkok,  the  neat  whitewashed 
picket  fences  lining  the  river  for  more  than  a 
mile,  the  well-kept  lawns  of  the  public  build- 
ings, and  the  residences  of  the  officials  would 
greatly  surprise  a  traveller  who  had  expected 
to  find  barbarians  in  this  interior  region  of 
Siam.  At  Ke  Kan,  where  we  stopped  for  the 
night,  there  is  not  a  single  foreigner,  but  we 
strolled  for  a  long  distance  on  a  level,  beauti- 
fully shaded,  though  narrow,  street  along  the 
river  bank.  We  saw  a  sign  bearing  the  word 
"  Post-office  "  in  English,  Siamese,  and  Chinese. 
We  passed  a  telegraph  office,  and  on  the  ve- 
randa of  the  magistrate's  residence  we  saw  two 
bicycles.  One  Sunday  we  camped  near  a  ham- 
let in  the  heart  of  a  mighty  forest,  about  as  far 
from  civilization,  one  might  suppose,  as  it  would 
be  easy  to  get.  But  in  the  police  station  we 
found  a  telephone  connecting  with  the  telegraph 
office  in  Chieng  Mai,  so  that,  though  we  were 
12,000  miles  away  from  home  and  600  miles  in 
the  interior  of  Farther  India,  we  could  have 
flashed  a  message  to  any  point  in  Europe  or 


THE    PEOPLE  169 

America.  The  government  postal,  system,  in- 
augurated in  1884,  now  extends  all  over  the 
country,  and  in  the  correspondence  of  a  dozen 
years  with  the  missionaries  in  various  parts  of 
Siam  and  Laos,  letters  have  seldom  miscarried. 

The  police  stations  are  models  of  neatness —  Police 
spotlessly  white  buildings  in  well-kept  grounds, 
adorned  with  carefully  tended  flower  beds  and 
potted  plants.  A  new  system  of  accounts  and 
auditing  is  reducing  to  order  the  hitherto  hope- 
lessly confused  finances  of  the  country.  A 
Bureau  of  Forestry  has  stopped  the  prodigal 
wastefulness  of  timber  lands.  Legal  procedure 
is  being  reformed,  so  that  an  accused  man  can 
now  obtain  justice  in  the  courts.  The  prisons 
are  being  remodelled.  We  inspected  one  in  Siam 
and  one  in  Laos,  and  found  clean,  well-fed  pris- 
oners in  roomy,  well-ventilated  wards.  Free 
public  schools  have  been  opened  all  over  the  Schools 
land,  and  several  have  good  buildings,  foreign 
desks,  and  an  abundance  of  maps,  though  the 
teachers  are  inferior  to  those  in  mission  schools. 
A  royal  decree,  dated  February,  1899,  made 
Sunday  a  legal  holiday.  It  is  not  strictly  ob- 
served, but  it  can  hardly  be  more  of  a  dead  let- 
ter than  similar  laws  in  some  parts  of  America 
and  Europe.  Telephones  are  numerous  in 
Bangkok.  Trolley  cars  run  through  the  streets. 
An  electric-light  plant  illuminates  the  King's 
palace.  Manufacturing  motors  and  automobiles 
are  coming  into  use,  and  thirteen  of  the  twenty- 
six  steam  rice  mills  of  the  city  have  their  own 
electric  plants,  as  have  also  the  Bangkok  Dock 


170 


SIAM 


Company,  two  forts,  five  naval  vessels,  and  the 
navy  yard. 

Bicycles  A  few  missionaries  brought  their  bicycles 

with  them.  The  Siamese  were  keenly  inter- 
ested, and  when,  in  1896,  an  American  dentist 
imported  several  wheels  to  sell,  they  were 
quickly  bought.  Now  there  are  3000  wheels 
in  Bangkok  alone.  The  King  frequently  rides 
one,  and  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  is  presi- 
dent of  a  bicycle  club  of  400  members.  Chieng 
Mai,  Laos,  is  said  to  have  more  in  proportion 
to  the  population  than  any  other  city  in  the 
country. 

Railroads  Three  railroads  are  in  operation,  one  a  narrow- 

gauge  from  Bangkok  to  Paknam,  another  a  broad- 
gauge  of  163  miles  from  Bangkok  to  Korat,  and 
the  third  from  Bangkok  to  Petchaburi.  Most 
important  of  all  is  a  trunk-line  from  Bangkok 
to  Lakawn,  Laos.  It  was  projected  many  years 
ago,  but  the  Siamese  are  not  persistent,  and  the 
construction  might  have  been  delayed  indefi- 
nitely if  the  Shan  rebellion  of  1902  had  not 
rudely  reminded  the  government  that  its  valu- 
able possessions  in  the  north  might  be  seriously 
jeopardized  long  before  a  Siamese  army  could 
march  600  miles  over  a  roadless  country,  or  be 
poled  in  boats  up  a  shallow  river.  Since  then, 
construction  has  been  pushed  with  all  speed, 
and  the  line  is  now  in  operation  over  half  way. 
Soon  the  tedious  river  journey  of  six  weeks — • 
it  once  took  Dr.  Wilson  108  days  —  will  be 
cut  down  to  two  days.  The  resultant  changes 
can  be  easily  imagined.  Everywhere  tickets, 


THE    PEOPLE  171 

signs,  and  notices  are  printed  in  English  and 
Siamese. 

The  younger  Siamese  are  eager  to  learn,  and  Desire  for 
they  not  only  flock  to  the  mission  schools,  but  Education 
numbers  of  the  more  ambitious  go  to  Europe. 
Some   have   gone  to  Germany,  Denmark,  and 
Russia,  but  most  of  them  have  preferred  Eng- 
land.    Several  of   the  famous  English  schools 
and  universities  usually  have  one  or  more  Siam- 
ese students.     There  are  a  few  in  the  United 
States,  two  having  recently  been  enrolled  in  a 
Western  university. 

It  is  significant  that  Siamese  students  abroad 
have  no  difficulty  in  maintaining  equality  with 
foreigners  in  the  class  room.  Mr.  Verney  says 
that  when  they  first  went  to  the  famous  Harrow 
School  in  England,  the  Head  Master  said  to  him  : 
"  You  are  trying  an  extraordinary  experiment  in  Character 
sending  young  Siamese  to  Harrow,  and  you  are 
wonderfully  sanguine  in  supposing  that  they 
can  adapt  themselves  to  our  public  school  life;" 
but  shortly  before  his  death  he  spoke  of  the  re- 
markable success  they  had  achieved,  and  said 
that  there  was  not  a  master  at  Harrow  who 
would  not  gladly  welcome  them  to  his  house. 

All  this,  left  without  qualification,  might  give 
a  wrong  impression,  for  even  more  than  in  Japan 
foreign  civilization  is  a  veneer.  It  has  as  yet 
no  solid  basis  in  character.  The  real  life  of  the 
people  has  not  been  so  essentially  modified  as 
their  modern  improvements  might  lead  one  to 
suppose. 

The  King  is,  undoubtedly,  next  to  the  Mi- 


172  SIAM 

Government  kado  of  Japan,  the  most  enlightened  and  pro- 
gressive monarch  in  Asia,  and  he  has  a  few 
capable  men  who  sympathize  with  his  views 
and  energetically  assist  him  in  executing  them, 
such  as  Prince  Damrong,  Minister  of  the  Inte- 
rior ;  Prince  Devawongse,  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  and  some  of  the  Commissioners.  But 
his  Majesty  and  these  officials  are  far  in  ad- 
vance of  the  rest  of  the  nation.  There  is  110 
middle  class  to  give  that  substantial  support  to 
reform  movements  which  has  been  the  salvation 
of  England  and  America.  There  are  practically 
but  two  classes,  the  high  and  the  low.  The 
revolutionary  changes  have  come  from  above 
instead  of  from  beneath,  as  in  Europe,  and 
they  have  not  penetrated  the  masses  of  the 
people.  The  King  is  simply  trying  to  fasten 
the  fruits  of  Christian  civilization  on  to  the 
dead  tree  of  a  Buddhist  nation.  The  effort 
should  not  be  criticised.  It  is  well  meant,  and 
it  is  beneficial  so  far  as  it  goes.  It  is  unques- 
tionably doing  much  to  open  up  Siam  to  the 
influences  of  the  outside  world. 

Unstable  But  no  civilization  can  endure  which  rests 

Foundation  on  an  unsfcable  foundation  in  morals.  Has  Siam 
an  unstable  foundation  ?  The  most  cursory 
glance  beneath  the  surface  will  show  that  it 
has.  Home  and  society  are  what  one  might 
expect  where  polygamy  and  concubinage  are 
openly  recognized.  Missionaries  find  the  great- 
est difficulty  in  convincing  the  native  Chris- 
tians that  immorality  is  something  more  than  a 
venial  sin.  Boarding  schools  for  girls  have  to 


THE    PEOPLE  173 

be  unceasingly  watched,  and  a  great  majority 
of  the  cases  of  discipline  in  the  church  are  for 
violation  of  the  seventh  commandment. 

While  public  drunkenness  is  not  conspicu-  intemper- 
ous,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  drinking,  and  the  ance 
"Spirit  Farmer,"  who  has  the  government  con- 
cession for  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  liquor, 
is  one  of  the  mighty  men  in  every  community. 
Scotch  whiskey,  French  brandy,  and  Australian 
beer  are  everywhere.  We  saw  shops  with  rows 
of  foreign  bottles  in  the  remotest  towns,  and 
several  times  in  Bangkok  we  read  the  English 
sign  :  "  Place  for  the  Drinking  of  the  Delight- 
ful Juice."  Some  of  the  Siamese  nobles  who 
were  educated  abroad  have  learned  not  only 
European  manners  but  European  intemperance, 
and  one  of  the  highest  judges  of  the  land  has 
died  as  the  result  of  excessive  drinking  which 
he  began  in  England. 

The  cigarette  and  betel  nut  are  universally  Smoking 
used,  not  only  by  men,  but  by  women  and  chil- 
dren. The  tobacco  is  mild  and  is  smoked  very 
slowly.  Our  carriers  in  the  jungle  would  take 
two  or  three  puffs  and  then  thrust  their  cigar- 
ettes into  holes  in  the  lobes  of  their  ears. 
There  the  cigarettes  would  remain  for  an  hour 
or  two,  when  one  would  be  relighted,  puffed  a 
few  times  more,  and  then  returned  to  the  ear. 
Sometimes  our  men  would  carry  three  half-con- 
sumed cigarettes  at  once,  one  in  each  ear  and 
one  at  the  top  of  the  ear,  as  an  American  clerk 
carries  a  pen.  Betel-nut  chewing  so  stains  the 
teeth  and  lips  that  it  is  a  disgusting  habit  to 


174 


SIAM 


Bangkok 


Lack  of 

Sanitation 


Population 


Roads  and 
Canals 


a  foreigner,  but  the  dark-red  color  is  highly 
prized  by  the  Siamese,  and  physicians  told  me 
that  the  habit  is  not  so  deleterious  to  health 
as  the  tobacco  habit  in  America.  Opium 
smoking  is  not  common,  except  among  the  Chi- 
nese. Gambling  is  the  national  vice.  We 
shall  refer  to  this  in  another  connection.  The 
traveller  in  Siam  quickly  learns  to  love  the  peo- 
ple for  their  hospitality  and  good  nature,  but 
he  sees  indubitable  evidences  of  their  need  of  a 
vital  regenerative  faith. 

Bangkok,  the  capital  and  chief  city  of  Siam, 
lies  upon  both  sides  of  the  Me  Nam  River, 
about  twenty  miles  from  the  sea.  The  site  is 
low  and  swampy.  Nothing  but  the  current  of 
the  river,  aided  by  the  tide,  keeps  the  city  from 
being  depopulated  by  epidemics.  The  govern- 
ment is  doing  much  to  lessen  the  dangers  of  the 
situation  by  studying  prevention  and  sanitation. 
It  employs  a  foreign  medical  inspector,  and  it 
cooperates  with  the  medical  missionaries  and 
freely  adopts  their  recommendations. 

The  population  is  variously  estimated.  The 
American  Minister,  the  Hon.  Hamilton  King, 
says  that  the  population  is  nearly  a  million. 
Almost  all  the  races  and  tribes  in  Siam  are 
represented,  so  that  the  visitor  finds  the  streets 
filled  with  a  motley  throng. 

Some  excellent  thoroughfares  have  been  laid 
out  in  recent  years  and  others  are  projected; 
but  the  chief  thoroughfare  is  the  river.  Its 
broad  surface  is  crowded  with  canoes,  launches, 
houseboats,  and  foreign  ships,  while  the  splendid 


THE    PEOPLE  175 

private  steam  yacht  of  the  King  and  the  gun- 
boats of  the  Royal  Navy  add  to  the  picturesque- 
ness  of  the  scene.  Numerous  creeks  and  canals 
run  in  on  both  sides  and  are  used  as  highways 
by  innumerable  small  boats.  Bangkok  is  often 
called  the  Venice  of  Asia. 

Trade  and  commerce  are  represented  by  scores  Commerce 
of  steam  rice  and  saw  mills  and  by  thousands  of 
shops  and  offices,  including  several  large  Eu- 
ropean and  Chinese  firms.  Four  clubs,  three 
consulates,  nine  legations,  and  the  Court  of 
Siam  make  the  city  a  centre  of  social  as  well 
as  political  activity. 

Chief  interest  naturally  attaches  to  the  King's  The  Palace 
palace.  The  royal  enclosure  occupies  an  exten- 
sive section  of  the  upper  part  of  the  city  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river,  and  includes  several 
splendid  buildings  which  would  grace  a  Eu- 
ropean capital.  There  are  some  famous  wats, 
too,  of  superb  beauty  and  costly  decorations. 
One  contains  the  celebrated  statue  of  the  sleep- 
ing Buddha,  another  the  Emerald  Buddha,  and 
still  another  several  relics  of  Buddha.  A  pagoda 
with  a  carpet  made  of  pure  silver  tape  is  the 
receptacle  of  a  richly  inlaid  cabinet  in  which  is 
preserved  with  jealous  care  the  sacred  Pali 
Manuscripts.  The  Royal  Library  occupies  a 
fine  building,  and  contains  not  only  rare  Bud- 
dhist books  in  beautiful  and  expensive  bindings, 
but  many  modern  books  and  periodicals  in 
English. 

Every  visitor  eagerly  inquires  for  "  the  white  White  Eie- 
elephants "   about   which   so   much    has    been  Phants 


176  SIAM 

written.  But  disappointment  is  invariable. 
The  elephants  are  not  white,  except  in  the  eyes, 
and  a  few  light-colored  spots  about  the  ears  and 
the  top  of  the  head.  The  rest  of  the  body  is 
almost  as  dark  as  that  of  an  ordinary  elephant. 
White-eyed  elephants,  however,  are  very  rare 
and  are  highly  prized.  They  are  the  exclusive 
property  of  the  King,  and  when  a  wild  one  is 
caught,  it  must  be  sent  to  the  royal  stables. 
Of  the  five  that  we  saw,  three  were  so  savage 
that  the  keeper  would  not  allow  us  to  touch 
them,  but  the  others  were  very  tame,  and  saluted 
us  by  raising  their  trunks  ;  one  kneeled  and 
bowed  her  head  to  the  ground  before  us. 

Ayuthia  Bangkok  is  the  only  large  city  in  the  country, 

but  there  are  several  other  places  of  considerable 
interest.  North  of  Bangkok  is  Ayuthia,  the 
second  city  of  the  kingdom.  As  the  ancient 
capital,  it  is  a  place  of  historic  interest.  Ruins 
do  not  last  long  in  a  humid,  tropical  climate, 
but  the  visitor  to  Ayuthia  can  still  find  very 
interesting  traces  of  former  splendor,  including 
an  old  temple  and  an  enormous  statue  of  Bud- 
dha, which  is  famous.  A  considerable  popula- 
tion centres  in  Ayuthia.  Indeed,  as  we  travelled 
up  the  Me  Nam  River  in  a  houseboat,  we  were 
impressed  by  the  fact  that,  for  about  75  miles 
from  Bangkok,  both  banks  are  practically  con- 
tinuous village  streets,  while  above  that  point, 
villages  are  numerous  away  up  to  Paknampo, 
204  miles  from  the  capital. 

Korat  Korat,  at  the  terminus  of  the  northeastern 

branch  of  the  railway,  Paknampo  at  the  junction 


HISTORY  AND   GOVERNMENT  177 

of  the  Me  Ping  with  the  Me  Nam,  Pitsanuloke 
on  the  upper  Me  Nam,  Raheng  on  the  Me  Ping, 
where  the  overland  mail  runners  from  Moul- 
meiii,  Burma,  strike  the  river,  and  Chieng  Mai, 
Lakawn,  Nan  and  Chiieng  Rai  in  Laos,  are 
the  most  important  places.  Chieng  Mai  and 
Lakawn,  in  particular,  are  influential  centres. 
Both  are  attractive  cities,  the  former  with 
100,000  people,  spread  over  an  area  of  about 
18  square  miles.  The  latter  has  only  20,000, 
of  whom  100  are  Chinese ;  but  with  the  com- 
pletion of  the  railroad,  Lakawn  will  probably 
become  the  most  important  centre  in  Laos. 

South   of   Bangkok,  the   leading   towns  are  Other 
Ratburi  and   Petchaburi,  the  latter  being  the  Towns 
terminus  of   the  railway,  Chantaboon,  so  long 
occupied  by  the  French,  and  Nakawn,  400  miles 
from  Bangkok  on  the  Peninsula. 

HISTORY  AND   GOVERNMENT 

While  the  Siamese  boast  of  their  antiquity  Antiquity 
as  a  nation,  there  is  no  authentic  history  that 
runs  back  of  1350.  This  is  quite  convenient, 
for  the  Kings  are  supposed  to  be  lineal  descend- 
ants of  Buddha  and  the  people  of  the  first  dis- 
ciples of  Buddha,  so  that  no  one  can  prove  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  Siamese  that  these  beliefs 
are  unfounded.  For  the  same  reason,  many 
miracles  in  those  legends  are  implicitly  ac- 
cepted. Buddha  is  represented  as  doing  the 
most  amazing  things,  and  the  imagination  of 
the  people  is  stirred  by  the  alleged  victorious 


178 


SIAM 


Changes  of 
Rule 


Present 
King 


wars  of  their  ancestors  and  by  tales  of  sup- 
pliant embassies,  brilliant  alliances,  and  extraor- 
dinary manifestations  of  supernatural  power. 

The  territory  now  covered  by  Siam  was  for- 
merly divided  among  several  petty  kingdoms. 
There  were  many  wars  between  the  Siamese 
and  neighboring  kingdoms,  principally  those 
of  the  Pegu  and  the  Laos.  The  Siamese  were 
generally  victorious,  and  by  1350  had  gradually 
extended  their  power  until  they  ruled  over  a 
very  extensive  territory,  their  capitol  being  at 
Ayuthia.  Then  for  two  centuries  peace  pre- 
vailed ;  but  in  1556,  war  again  broke  out  with 
the  Peguans,  who  succeeded  in  defeating  their 
former  conquerors.  The  change  of  power,  how- 
ever, was  but  temporary,  and  the  Siamese  soon 
regained  ascendancy.  The  Burmese  invasion 
of  1759  overturned  their  power  for  a  time,  but 
in  1782  the  Siamese  line  once  more  regained 
the  throne. 

The  present  King  is  the  fifth  sovereign  of  the 
Chakrakri  dynasty.  He  was  born  September 
20,  1853,  and  ascended  the  throne  on  the  death 
of  his  father,  King  Mongkut,  in  1868,  a  regency 
being  established  until  he  became  of  age.  He 
rejoices  in  the  name  of  Somdet  Prabart,  Prah 
Paramender,  Mahar  Chulalongkorn,  Baudin- 
taratape,  Mahar  Monkoot,  Rartenah  Rarcha- 
wewongse  Racher  Nekaradome  Chatarantah 
Baromah  Mahar  Chakrapart,  Pr.ah  Chula 
Chaumklow,  Chow  yu  huah.  Those  who  feel 
that  life  is  short  call  him  simply  King  Chu- 
lalongkorn. He  was  the  first  monarch  of  Siam 


HISTORY   AND    GOVERNMENT          179 

to  visit  other  lands,  and  his  travels  in  Europe 
in  1897  and  1907,  and  also  to  India  and  Java, 
greatly  broadened  his  mind.  He  has  abolished 
the  abject  custom  of  prostrations  at  court,  in- 
troduced European  dress,  established  a  royal 
museum,  adorned  his  capital  with  excellent 
streets,  public  gardens,  and  a  group  of  state 
buildings  which  would  be  considered  handsome 
anywhere. 

An  interesting  feature  of  the  policy  of  the  The  King's 
King  is  the  commissionership.  The  kingdom, 
as  already  noted,  includes  several  smaller  king- 
doms and  provinces,  each  with  its  hereditary 
ruler.  These  petty  potentates  were  formerly 
supreme  in  their  respective  regions.  Corrupt, 
oppressive,  and  accustomed  to  regard  the  people 
and  all  their  possessions  as  personal  property, 
these  feudal  lords  were  a  formidable  obstacle 
to  the  King's  plans  for  administrative  reform. 
So  he  adopted  the  plan  of  sending  a  commis- 
sioner to  reside  at  each  provincial  capital  to 
"  advise  "  with  the  local  governor  and  to  form 
a  medium  of  communication  between  him  and 
the  King.  The  latter  in  turn  transmitted  his 
wishes  to  the  commissioner  and  gave  him  a 
force  of  gendarmes,  equipped  with  modern 
guns,  to  execute  them.  The  outcome  has  been 
the  gradual  transference  of  power  from  the 
local  lord  to  the  commissioner,  the  unifying 
of  administration  and  the  strengthening  of  the 
power  of  the  King,  who  is  now  the  absolute 
monarch  of  the  whole  kingdom.  The  local 
prince,  particularly  in  Laos,  is  accorded  much 


180 


SIAM 


The  King 
Absolute 


His 

Successors 


ostensible  honor,  as  in  the  case  of  the  native 
princes  under  British  rule  in  India  ;  but,  as  in 
India  also,  he  finds  obedience  to  his  "  adviser  " 
conducive  to  health  and-  prosperity. 

The  King  is  therefore  the  source  and  centre 
of  all  power.  In  theory,  he  is  the  owner  of  the 
whole  country  and  all  its  inhabitants.  Practi- 
cally, however,  he  has  voluntarily  introduced 
some  constitutional  features.  He  administers 
affairs  through  ten  departments  of  state.  The 
heads  of  these  departments  form  a  Council  of 
Ministers.  There  are  also  a  Council  of  State  and 
a  Privy  Council.  The  King  has  thus  surrounded 
himself  with  a  considerable  number  of  his  wisest 
subjects,  and  he  freely  advises  with  them. 

The  enlightened  and  progressive  policy  of  the 
King  will  probably  be  followed  by  his  successor, 
for  the  Crown  Prince  Maha  Vajiravudh,  born 
January  1,  1881,  is  a  young  man  of  many  excel- 
lent qualities.  From  1893  to  1902  he  studied 
in  England.  Before  returning  to  his  native 
land,  he  visited  several  European  capitals,  and 
journeyed  home  by  the  way  of  the  United 
States  and  Japan.  Nor  is  he  the  only  prince 
who  has  been  educated  abroad.  Several  of  his 
many  brothers,  for  the  royal  family  of  a  po- 
lygamous country  is  numerous,  have  studied 
in  England,  Germany,  Denmark,  and  Russia. 
"  There  is  no  royal  family  in  the  world  of 
which  the  members  have  had  such  varied  ex- 
perience in  almost  every  country  in  Europe."1 

1  Frederick  Verney,  late  Councillor  of  the  Siamese  Lega- 
tion, London. 


MISSIONS  181 

PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

The  beginnings  of  Protestant  missionary  Period  of 
effort  in  Siam  date  back  to  1818  and  to  the  ^^^SB 
honored  name  of  Mrs.  Ann  Hasseltine  Judson, 
of  Burma.  She  never  visited  Siam,  but  she 
met  some  Siamese  in  Rangoon,  and  through 
them  heard  such  accounts  of  their  country  that 
she  became  deeply  interested,  learned  the  lan- 
guage, and  translated  a  tract,  a  catechism,  and 
the  gospel  by  Matthew.  The  English  Baptist 
Mission  press  at  Serampore  printed  the  cate- 
chism in  1819,  "the  first  Christian  book  ever 
printed  in  Siamese." 

The  first  Protestant  missionaries  to  visit  First  Mis- 
Siam  were  the  famous  Dr.  Gutzlaff  of  the  sionaries 
Netherlands  Missionary  Society,  and  the  Rev. 
Jacob  Tomlin,  of  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
who  came  to  Bangkok  from  Singapore  in  1828, 
and  began  work  among  the  Chinese.  Ill  health 
forced  Mr.  Tomlin  to  return  to  Singapore  the 
following  year,  and  Dr.  Gutzlaff  left  for  China 
in  1831.  He  baptized  only  one  convert  in 
Siam,  a  Chinese  named  Boon-tai,  but  he  had 
set  in  motion  a  force  which  did  not  stop  with 
his  departure.  Not  only  did  he  leave  somq 
translations,  but  he  and  Mr.  Tomlin  had  united 
in  an  appeal  to  the  American  churches  to  un- 
dertake permanent  work  in  this  needy  field. 
That  appeal  was  conveyed  to  America  in  1829 
by  Captain  Coffin,  of  the  American  trading 
vessel  which  brought  those  physical  freaks, 
the  Siamese  Twins. 


182 


SIAM 


Rev.  David 
Abeel 


Disasters 


Lack  of 

Apparent 

Success 


Rev.  Jesse 
Caswell 


THE   CONGREGATIONAL  MISSION 

The  first  Board  to  respond  was  the  American 
Board,  which  sent  the  Rev.  David  Abeel  from 
Canton ;  he  arrived  June  39,  1831,  shortly  after 
Dr.  Gutzlaff  had  left.  Ill  health  compelled 
him  to  leave  November  5, 1832  ;  but  in  1834  and 
1835,  seventeen  missionaries,  including  wives, 
arrived,  and  for  a  time  everything  looked 
bright. 

But  soon  disasters  began  to  come.  Mr.  Ben- 
harn  was  drowned.  Mrs.  Johnson,  Mrs.  Brad- 
ley, and  Mr.  French  died,  and  Mr.  Robinson, 
broken  in  health,  left  only  to  be  buried  at  St. 
Helena  on  his  way  home.  In  1846,  the  Amer- 
ican Board,  whose  main  thought  from  the 
beginning  had  been  for  the  Chinese  rather 
than  the  Siamese,  concluded  that  the  time 
had  come  when  the  former  could  be  reached 
in  China  more  effectively  than  in  Siam,  and  it 
therefore  transferred  Messrs.  Peet  and  Johnson 
to  Foo-chow.  The  few  remaining  missionaries 
struggled  on  among  the  Siamese;  in  1848  Mr. 
Caswell  died,  and  when  ill  health  drove  out  Mr. 
Hemenway  and  his  family  in  December,  1849, 
the  mission  of  the  American  Board  was  closed. 
Fifteen  years  of  hard  labor  had  not  resulted  in 
any  baptisms,  but  the  toil  of  those  devoted 
missionaries,  in  that  hot,  steaming  climate, 
formed  an  essential  part  of  the  foundation 
upon  which  others  were  to  build. 

Two  members  in  particular  of  this  early 
American  Board  Mission  did  much  to  make 


MISSIONS  183 

possible  the  subsequent  development  of  Siam. 
One  of  these  was  the  Rev.  Jesse  Caswell,  who 
had  arrived  in  1840,  and  whose  ability  and  wis- 
dom so  impressed  Prince  Chow  Fah  Mongkut, 
that  this  future  King  chose  him  as  his  special 
instructor,  and  for  a  year  and  a  half  (1845— 
1846)  studied  as  a  docile  pupil  of  Mr.  Caswell. 
The  enlightened  and  progressive  policy  of 
King  Mongkut,  which  was  the  real  beginning 
of  modern  Siam  and  which  gave  the  widest 
opportunity  to  all  missionary  work,  was  due  in 
no  small  degree  to  the  training  that  he  re- 
ceived from  this  missionary  of  the  American 
Board. 

The  other  notable  missionary  of  the  American  Dr.  Daniel 
Board  was  Dr.  Daniel  B.  Bradley.  He  was  a  B-  Bradley 
man  of  unusual  gifts,  and  speedily  obtained 
large  influence.  He  brought  the  first  printing- 
press  to  Siam  in  1836.  Finding  that  multitudes 
of  the  Siamese  died  annually  from  the  small- 
pox, he  introduced  vaccination  in  1840.  When 
the  American  Board  withdrew  its  missionaries 
from  Siam,  he  felt  that  he  could  not  leave  the 
people  to  whose  spiritual  welfare  he  had  con- 
secrated his  life.  He  transferred  his  connec- 
tion to  the  American  Missionary  Association, 
and  though  the  Association  soon  gave  up  the 
field,  he  continued  his  work  until  his  death 
in  Bangkok,  June  23,  1893.  He  was  remark- 
able alike  as  a  physician,  a  scholar,  and  a  mis- 
sionary, and  his  name  is  still  venerated  by  the 
Siamese. 


184 


SIAM 


Rev.  John  T. 
Jones 


First  Con- 
verts 


Discourage- 
ments 


THE  BAPTIST  MISSION 

The  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  also 
had  a  part  in  these  early  efforts  to  give  the 
Gospel  to  the  Siamese.  The  Baptist  mission- 
aries in  Burma  answered  the  appeal  of  Dr. 
Gutzlaff  and  Mr.  Tomlin  by  sending  the  Rev. 
and  Mrs.  John  T.  Jones,  who  arrived  in  Bang- 
kok 011  March  25, 1833.  The  Rev.  William  Dean 
came  in  1835.  He  was  in  great  sorrow,  for  the 
young  wife  who  had  left  Boston  with  him  a 
year  before  had  died  in  Singapore  during  the 
weary  months  of  waiting  for  a  steamer  to  take 
them  to  Bangkok. 

The  Baptists,  like  the  Congregationalists,  felt 
that  the  most  inviting  opportunities  at  that 
period  were  among  the  Chinese  in  Bangkok, 
though  some  work  was  done  among  the  Siamese. 
The  first  converts,  however,  were  Chinese. 
Results  came  slowly,  but  by  1848  sixty  per- 
sons had  been  added  to  the  little  church.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Reid  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davenport, 
who  arrived  in  July,  1836,  brought  the  first 
printing-press  to  Siam,  and  before  the  end  of 
that  year  the  printed  page  began  giving  the 
people  the  good  news  of  the  Gospel. 

Reinforcements  came  in  1840  and  1843,  but 
sickness  and  death  made  sad  havoc  among  the 
little  band  of  workers,  and  the  Siamese  showed 
little  disposition  to  accept  Christ,  the  major- 
ity of  the  converts  being  Chinese.  When  the 
Anglo-Chinese  treaty  of  1842  opened  five  ports 
of  China,  the  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  like  the 


MISSIONS  185 

American  Board,  decided  that  the  mighty  empire 
in  the  north  offered  the  more  promising  oppor- 
tunities. Part  of  the  Siam  force  was  accordingly 
transferred  to  China.  The  mission  was  not  at 
once  given  up,  however,  and  from  time  to  time 
recruits  were  added,  until  all  together  thirty-two 
men  and  women  had  been  connected  with  the 
mission,  and  considerable  work  inaugurated. 
But  the  difficulties  were  felt  to  be  great.  One 
by  one,  the  number  of  missionaries  diminished 
by  death  and  resignation  and  transfer,  until,  by 
1871,  Dr.  Dean  was  the  only  Baptist  missionary 
left,  and  on  his  lamented  death,  in  1884,  the 
mission  was  finally  closed. 

While  no  distinctive  work  among  the  Siamese  Permanent 
has  been  done  since  1869,  a  small  work  among  Results 
the  Chinese  continues.  There  are  now  two 
Chinese  Baptist  churches  in  Siam.  One  of  them, 
the  Watkok  Church,  has  70  members,  and  is  an 
active  force  in  a  part  of  Bangkok  that  is  thickly 
settled  by  immigrants  from  Swatow.  There  are 
also  two  small  churches  among  the  Mons  or 
Peguans,  a  section  of  the  Talains  who  have 
entered  Siam  from  Burma.  All  together,  there 
are  four  Baptist  churches  in  Siam,  with  an 
aggregate  membership  of  138,  under  the  care  of 
native  helpers  superintended  by  H.  Adamson, 
M.D.,  a  resident  Eurasian  physician  in  private 
practice  in  Bangkok,  who  is  a  devoted  Christian. 

The  Baptist  mission  in  Siam  left  many  gra- 
cious influences  and  aided  not  a  little  in  the 
pioneer  effort  to  gain  a  foothold  for  the  Gospel. 
Some  of  the  missionaries  who  afterward  became 


186  SIAM 

prominent  in  China  began  their  careers  in  Siam. 
Among  these  were  the  famous  William  Ashmore 
of  Swatow,  Josiah  Goddard  of  Ningpo,  and  J. 
L.  Schuck  of  Canton. 

PRESBYTERIAN  MISSIONS 

The  withdrawal  of  the  Baptist  and  Congre- 
gational missionaries  left  the  Presbyterian 
Mission  the  only  one  in  the  field.  The  Pres- 
byterian movement  for  the  evangelization  of 
Rev.  R.  w.  Siam  had  begun  with  the  Rev.  R.  W.  Orr,  a 
missionary  from  China,  who  made  a  visit  of  in- 
quiry to  Bangkok  in  November,  1838,  and  then 
strongly  urged  the  Presbyterian  Board  to  open 
a  mission  there.  The  Board  complied  by  send- 
ing the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  W.  P.  Buell  in  1840. 
The  failure  of  Mrs.  Buell's  health  obliged  them 
to  leave  in  1844,  and  three  years  passed  before  a 
successor  arrived  ;  but  in  1847  the  Rev.  Stephen 
Mattoon  and  Samuel  R.  House,  M.D.,  arrived, 
and  permanent  work  was  inaugurated.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Mattoon  were  privileged  to  labor  in  Siam 
for  nineteen  years,  and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  House  for 
twenty-nine  years. 

Dangers  of  An  incident  in  the  career  of  Dr.  House  shows 
Touring  fae  quality  of  the  man.  One  day,  while  in  the 
country  on  an  itinerating  tour,  he  was  attacked 
by  a  rogue  elephant,  which  threw  him  to  the 
ground  and  with  one  of  its  tusks  ripped  his 
body  open  so-that  the  intestines  protruded.  Dr. 
House's  medical  knowledge  enabled  him  to  see 
at  once  that  the  wound  would  be  fatal  unless 


MISSIONS  187 

instantly  treated.  There  was  no  one  near  but 
a  few  frightened  natives,  so  the  sorely  wounded 
man  put  his  intestines  back  with  his  own  hands 
and  took  a  sufficient  number  of  stitches  to  close 
the  wound  temporarily.  Then  he  instructed  the 
trembling  natives  to  carry  him  to  the  station. 
He  suffered  long,  but  his  first  aid  to  himself 
had  been  so  prompt  that  he  finally  recovered. 
The  annals  of  war  do  not  record  greater  forti- 
tude. 

Mrs.  House  interested  herself  in  the  education 
of  the  girls  of  Bangkok.  She  founded  the  first 
school  for  girls  in  Siam,  and  the  Harriet  House 
School  for  Girls  in  Bangkok  is  her  memorial. 

Mr.  Mattoon  and  Dr.  House  labored  for  two  Reenforce- 
years  before  reinforcements  came.  In  1849  they  ments 
were  joined  by  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Stephen 
Bush.  Their  stay,  however,  was  brief,  Mrs. 
Bush  dying  in  1851  and  Mr.  Bush  leaving  the 
field  with  impaired  health  in  1853.  The  First 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Siam  was  organized 
August  29,  1849.  There  were  no  native  Chris- 
tians connected  with  the  mission  at  that  time, 
and  the  membership  of  the  church  was  con- 
fined to  the  missionary  families.  A  Chinese 
teacher,  Qua  Kieng,  had  been  baptized  in  1844, 
and  another  Chinese,  a  young  man  from  Hainan, 
in  1851,  but  no  Siamese  convert  gladdened  the 
missionaries  till  1859,  nineteen  years  after  the 
arrival  of  Mr.  Buell.  "  With  tears  of  joy,"  Dr. 
House  wrote,  "the  missionaries  received  the  first 
fruits  of  labor  among  the  Siamese."  Nai  Chune 
was  the  name  of  the  man  who  thus  headed  the 


188 


SIAM 


The  Difficul- 
ties of  the 
Situation 


roll  of  Siamese  Christians.  It  required  no  small 
courage  to  cut  loose  from  all  the  associations  of 
his  lifetime  and  to  stand  alone  among  his  coun- 
trymen for  Christ.  Bat  he  proved  faithful. 

Many  difficulties  attended  this  pioneer  mis- 
sion work.  The  slow  and  wretchedly  uncom- 
fortable sailing  ships  of  those  days  made  Siam 
much  more  isolated  and  difficult  to  reach  than 
it  is  to-day.  The  climate,  always  trying  to  a 
foreigner,  was  doubly  injurious  when  the  mis- 
sionaries were  forced  to  live  in  native  houses ; 
when  supplies  of  native  food  and  clothing  could 
not  be  obtained  except  at  long  intervals  and 
great  cost ;  and  when  there  was  no  experience 
of  predecessors  to  guide  the  new  arrivals  in 
adapting  themselves  to  the  climate,  in  learning 
the  language,  and  in  getting  into  touch  with 
the  people. 

The  attitude  of  the  government,  too,  was 
The  King,  a  strong  but 

narrow-minded  and  fanatical  man,  used  his 
influence  to  the  utmost  to  thwart  the  mission- 
aries. He  opposed  them  not  because  they  were 
missionaries,  but  because  they  were  foreigners. 
When  an  embassy  from  the  United  States  ar- 
rived in  March,  1850,  to  open  friendly  negotia- 
tions with  a  view  to  a  treaty,  the  King  refused 
to  receive  it.  Even  England's  ambassador,  the 
famous  Sir  James  Brooke,  who  came  in  August 
of  the  same  year,  fared  no  better.  Sir  James 
felt  so  outraged  by  the  insulting  treatment  he 
received  that  he  sailed  away  in  a  rage,  threat- 
ening dire  punishment.  Indeed,  the  policy  of 


The  Hostile 

Attitude  of    decidedly  hostile. 

the  King 


MISSIONS  189 

the  King  so  irritated  England  that  for  a  time 
war  appeared  imminent. 

The  missionaries  were  not  subjected  to  per-  Personal 
sonal  violence,  but  several  times  the  danger  Ranfre.rs.to 
seemed  great.  The  unfriendly  attitude  of  the 
government  and  the  ruling  classes  was  so  well 
known  and  was  exerted  in  such  effective  ways, 
that  obstacles  confronted  the  little  band  of  mis- 
sionaries at  every  step.  No  Siamese  landlord 
dared  to  rent  or  sell  them  property,  and  they 
were  often  sorely  beset  for  suitable  shelter. 
Finally,  one  Siamese,  braver  than  the  rest,  sold 
a  site,  and  the  money  was  actually  paid  over. 
But  before  building  operations  could  be  begun, 
a  high  official  declared  the  sale  void  and  forced 
the  owner  to  return  the  money,  the  reason 
given  being  that  "the  residence  of  foreigners 
there  was  contrary  to  the  custom  of  the  coun- 
try." Wh^n  Dr.  Bradley 's  medical  work  be- 
gan to  win  the  favor  of  the  common  people,  the 
Buddhist  priests  made  the  odd  complaint  that, 
if  these  foreigners  were  allowed  to  show  kind- 
ness to  everybody  every  day,  their  merit  would 
soon  outstrip  that  of  the  best  men  of  the  king- 
dom. Once  the  missionaries  were  ordered  to 
leave  their  premises  and  had  to  find  shelter  as 
best  they  could,  —  one  family  in  a  houseboat 
and  another  with  the  Baptist  missionaries,  while 
Dr.  Bradley  sought  temporary  refuge  with  a 
friendly  English  merchant,  Mr.  Robert  Hunter. 
The  few  native  converts  were  fiercely  perse- 
cuted, the  helpers  were  imprisoned,  and  it  looked 
as  if  the  end  of  all  mission  work  had  come. 


190  SIAM 

Changes  for  Suddenly,  when  the  prospect  was  blackest, 
the  Better  the  hostile  King  died  (April  3,  1851),  and  his 
half  brother,  Prince  Chow  Fah  Mongkut,  as- 
cended the  throne.  For  twenty-seven  years 
he  had  lived  quietly  in  a  Buddhist  monastery, 
studying  and  thinking  and  showing  rare  open- 
ness of  mind  and  heart  to  all  good  influences. 
He  was  in  every  way  superior  in  character  to 
his  predecessor,  who  had  seized  the  royal  power 
years  before.  When  the  missionaries  from  the 
West  arrived,  this  priestly  prince  had  welcomed 
them  and,  as  we  have  already  noted,  engaged 
Mr.  Caswell  to  instruct  him  in  Western  learn- 
ing. Not  only  this,  but  he  gave  the  missionary 
free  use  of  a  room  on  the  temple  grounds  for 
daily  preaching  services  after  the  royal  pupil 
had  taken  his  lesson. 

Favor  of  the  The  new  King  showed  himself  as  friendly  to 
Throne  missionaries  on  the  throne  as  he  had  been  in  a 
monastery.  He  invited  them  to  his  palace  and 
showed  them  many  kindnesses.  Instantly  oppo- 
sition vanished.  Ground  was  secured  without 
further  difficulty,  and  buildings  were  erected. 
The  missionaries  wrote  :  "  The  princes  and 
nobles  now  courted  our  society ;  our  teachers 
and  servants  returned  to  their  places ;  throngs 
came  to  our  houses  to  receive  books  and  to  talk 
with  us  respecting  their  contents ;  and  we  were 
permitted  to  go  where  we  chose,  and  to  speak 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  with  the  confidence  that 
we  should  not  be  avoided,  but  obtain  a  respect- 
ful hearing." 

The  King  even  permitted  some  of  the  mis- 


MISSIONS  191 

sionary  women  to  enter  the  royal  harem  and  Access  to 
teach.     Missionary   teaching   was   a   little   too  toe  Royal 
serious  for  the  frivolous  ladies  within  the  royal 
enclosure,  and  most  of  them  did  not  prove  very 
apt  pupils.     But  several  were  impressed  by  the 
words  of  their  visitors  and  gladly  invited  them 
to  their  rooms  and  read  the  tracts  which  were 
given  them. 

The  work  now  made  steady  progress.  New  Progress  of 
arrivals  strengthened  the  missionary  force.  theWork 
The  Christian  Boys'  High  School  was  opened 
in  1852,  and  the  Harriet  House  School  for  Girls 
in  1873.  In  1860,  Petchaburi,  whose  Governor 
had,  in  1843,  treated  Mr.  Buell  with  contempt- 
uous indignity,  gave  polite  attention  to  Dr. 
House,  Mr.  Telford,  and  Mr.  Wilson,  and  in  the 
following  year  a  station  was  formally  established 
there.  Ayuthia  was  made  a  station  in  1872, 
though  it  has  since  been  merged  into  the  Bang- 
kok field.  1878  saw  a  second  church  organized 
in  Bangkok. 

The   death  of   King  Mongkut  in  1868  was  Further 
deeply  mourned  ;  but  his  son,  the  present  King,  5;ejiglo?s 
has  continued  the  broad  and  tolerant  policy  of 
his  father.     A  proclamation  of  religious  liberty, 
was  issued  in  1870. 

The  influence  of  the  missionaries  was  recog- 
nized on  every  hand.  In  1878,  the  King  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  members  of  the  mission,  the 
Rev.  S.  G.  McFarland,  who  had  come  to  Siam 
in  1860,  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 
and  President  of  the  Royal  College  at  Bangkok, 
the  first  college  to  be  opened  in  Siam.  Dr.  and 


192 


SIAM 


Stations 


Scope  of 
the  Work 


Mrs.  McFarland  were  freely  permitted  to  use 
their  enlarged  opportunities  for  Christ.  Their 
son,  the  present  Superintendent  of  the  Govern- 
ment Hospital  in  Bangkok,  works  in  close  sym- 
pathy with  the  missionaries  and  has  helped 
them  in  inestimable  ways. 

The  Presbyterian  Board  now  has  in  lower 
Siam,  exclusive  of  the  Laos  Mission,  five  sta- 
tions :  Bangkok,  Petchaburi,  Ratburi,  opened  in 
1889,  Nakawn  Sri  Tamarat  and  Pitsanuloke, 
both  of  which  were  opened  in  1899.  The  story 
of  the  opening  of  Nakawn  is  peculiarly  interest- 
ing. The  good-will  of  the  people  made  it 
easy  to  secure  land,  a  residence  was  soon 
erected,  and  since  then  a  fine  hospital  has  been 
built,  the  King  himself  having  made  a  liberal 
contribution. 

The  total  force  of  the  Presbyterian  Mission  in 
lower  Siam  consists  at  this  writing  of  thirty- 
seven  missionaries  and  twenty-nine  native 
workers.  There  are  seven  organized  churches, 
eight  schools,  four  hospitals  which  treat 
25,000  patients  annually  and  a  printing-press 
which  issues,  during  the  same  period,  about 
5,000,000  pages.  The  work  includes  the  Chi- 
nese as  well  as  the  Siamese,  the  former  being 
found  in  all  the  schools,  hospitals,  and  churches. 
The  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Bangkok  is 
a  Chinese,  and  almost  the  entire  membership 
of  the  Third  Church  (Rajawong)  is  Chinese. 
The  blending  of  the  two  races  is  such  —  prac- 
tically every  Chinese  having  a  Siamese  wife  and 
half-caste  children — that  it  would  now  be  quite 


MISSIONS  193 

impracticable  to  undertake  to  separate  them  in 
mission  work. 

Four  of  the  mission  institutions  in  Bangkok  Christian 
have  special  interest  for  the  visitor.  One  is 
the  Christian  Boys'  High  School.  Its  hand- 
some site  was  paid  for  by  gifts  of  the  Siamese 
themselves,  the  King  heading  the  subscription 
and  his  nobles  and  people  joining  him  in  sub- 
stantial evidences  of  their  appreciation  of  this 
noble  institution.  The  buildings,  erected  by 
American  funds,  are  excellent.  In  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  School  charges  fees  which  make  it 
wholly  self-supporting,  except  for  salaries  of  the 
missionaries,  it  is  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity, 
and  could  easily  have  many  more  students. 
The  Siamese  opinion  of  the  School  is  indicated, 
not  only  by  the  gifts  and  fees  referred  to,  but 
by  the  statement  of  a  Cabinet  officer  that  the 
government  would  be  glad  to  take  into  its 
employ  every  graduate  that  the  School  can  turn 
out.  Character,  training,  and  efficiency  count 
in  Siam  as  elsewhere. 

The  second  institution  is  the  Harriet  House 
School  for  Girls. 

The  influence  of  this  School  is  very  great.  School  for 
Half  of  its  pupils  come  from  the  families  of 
noblemen.  Several  are  royal  princesses,  nieces 
of  the  King.  Others  are  daughters  of  govern- 
ors and  ministers  to  European  capitals.  The 
entire  female  teaching  force  of  the  Bangkok 
public  government  schools,  thirteen  in  number, 
are  graduates  of  Harriet  House,  twelve  of  them 
being  Christians.  At  the  recent  government 


194  SIAM 

examinations,  the  School  elicited  the  outspoken 
admiration  of  the  Prince  Director-General  of 
Public  Instruction  by  excelling  all  other  schools 
in  the  kingdom,  including  the  Queen's  Own 
College,  in  the  proportion  of  pupils  who  credit- 
ably passed  the  examination. 

The  Only  The  Bangkok  press,  founded  in  1861,  is  the 

Siam  m  kest  equipped  institution  of  the  kind  in  Siam, 
and,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  gifts,  its  entire 
plant  has  been  paid  for  out  of  its  earnings.  It 
publishes  school  and  religious  books,  myriads  of 
tracts,  a  monthly  magazine,  and  all  the  issues  in 
Siam  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  besides  a 
great  amount  of  job  work  for  the  government 
and  private  firms  and  individuals.  It  is  the 
only  press  in  Siam  which  confines  itself  to 
morally  clean  work,  and  it  is  thus  a  powerful 
influence  for  good  in  the  business  community. 
Other  presses  will  print  anything.  This  refuses 
opium,  liquor,  gambling,  and  like  advertise- 
ments. 

A  Native  The  Boon  Itt  Memorial  is  the  centre   of   a 

Martyr  far-reaching  work  for  young  men.  The  Rev. 
Boon  Itt  was  a  native  Siamese  of  mixed  Cam- 
bodian and  Chinese  blood,  who  was  taken  to 
America  in  his  boyhood  by  Dr.  House  and 
educated  at  Williams  College  and  Auburn 
Theological  Seminary,  and  who  then  returned 
to  Siam  and  engaged  in  Christian  work.  As 
the  head  of  his  "  clan,"  whose  family  home  is 
in  Bangkok,  he  was  widely  known  in  the 
capital.  Young  men  liked  him  and  resorted  to 
him  for  advice.  The  government  repeatedly 


MISSIONS  195 

offered  him  lucrative  posts,  and  a  trading  cor- 
poration in  Laos  was  eager  to  employ  him  at  a 
salary  of  $4000  gold.  As  a  minister  of  Christ 
he  received  $650  and  a  humble  native  house, 
and  he  preferred  being  a  preacher.  His  death 
from  cholera  in  1903  was  greatly  lamented. 
The  Siamese  raised  funds  for  a  centrally  located 
site  for  a  memorial,  and  an  American  commit- 
tee, headed  by  Williams  and  Auburn  class- 
mates of  Boon  Itt's,  erected  the  handsome 
building. 

One  of  the  churches  has  an  interesting  his-  A  Noble 
tory.  Several  years  ago,  Phya  Montri,  a  Si-  Memorial 
amese  nobleman  of  great  influence,  who  was 
educated  at  Columbia  College,  New  York,  be- 
came interested  in  Christianity.  After  varied 
spiritual  experiences,  he  was  drifting  away 
from  Christ,  when  his  beloved  and  only  son 
suddenly  died.  In  his  grief,  a  missionary 
gently  told  him  of  the  Good  Shepherd  who, 
finding  that  a  sheep  would  not  follow  Him, 
took  the  lamb  in  His  arms.  The  father's  heart 
was  deeply  moved.  He  sketched  an  outline  of 
the  incident  and  had  an  artist  paint  it.  We 
saw  the  picture  in  his  house  —  a  shepherd,  with 
a  face  so  kindly  and  sweet,  a  face  like  unto  that 
of  the  Son  of  Man,  carrying  a  lamb  in  his 
bosom,  while  afar  off  two  sheep,  which  had  been 
walking  away  from  the  shepherd,  were,  with 
wistful  eyes,  turning  around  to  follow  their 
loved  one.  Now  this  father,  in  grateful  recog- 
nition of  this  spiritual  call,  gave  10,000  ticals 
to  build  a  church.  Something  was  added  by 


196 


81AM 


Beginnings 
in  Laos 


Immediate 
Results 


other  Christians,  and  a  beautiful  house  of  wor- 
ship was  dedicated  in  1903. 

The  mission  among  the  Laos  began  in  1867. 
Several  years  before  this,  the  Rev.  Daniel 
McGilvary,  then  stationed  at  Petchaburi,  had 
become  interested  in  a  small  village  near  the 
station,  whose  people  spoke  a  different  lan- 
guage and  appeared  to  be  distinct  in  many  ways 
from  the  Siamese  about  them.  Through  them, 
he  learned  of  the  vast  hill  country  to  the  north, 
from  which  their  ancestors  had  come.  He 
formed  an  ardent  desire  to  know  more  of  these 
people  and  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  them.  In 
1863,  he  and  his  colleague,  the  Rev.  Jonathan 
Wilson,  made  a  long  tour  of  exploration  to  the 
Laos  country.  It  was  a  journey  into  an  abso- 
lutely unknown  land.  For  months  the  devoted 
missionaries  made  their  way  up  the  Me  Nam 
River,  their  half-naked  boatmen  wading,  pull- 
ing, and  pushing  by  turns  in  order  to  get  the 
boat  over  sand  bars  and  through  rapids,  until 
they  finally  arrived  at  Chieng  Mai,  600  miles 
from  Bangkok.  Their  report  on  their  return 
was  so  enthusiastic  that,  in  1867,  Mr.  McGil- 
vary returned  to  Laos  with  his  wife  and  founded 
the  mission,  and  a  year  later  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wil- 
son joined  them.  The  visitor  to  Chieng  Mai 
never  fails  to  visit  the  bo  tree,  under  whose 
wide-spreading  branches  Dr.  and  Mrs.  McGil- 
vary lived  for  the  first  year  of  their  stay. 

Results  came  more  quickly  than  in  Lower 
Siam.  The  missionaries  were  scholars,  and 
they  foretold  the  eclipse  of  August,  1868,  a 


MISSIONS  197 

week  before  it  occurred.  The  natives  were  pro- 
foundly impressed,  and  one  of  the  ablest  and 
most  influential  Buddhist  scholars  of  Chieng 
Mai,  Nan  Inta,  was  converted.  He  became  a 
Christian  of  great  beauty  and  strength  of  char- 
acter, and  labored  indefatigably  for  Christ  till 
his  death  in  1882. 

The  conversion  of  Nan  Inta  was  soon  fol-  TWO  noble 
lowed  by  that  of  seven  others,  and  everything  Martyrs 
pointed  to  a  rapid  development  of  the  work, 
when  the  governor  of  Chieng  Mai  began  to 
persecute  the  Christians.  Noi  Su  Ya  and  Nan 
Chai  were  arrested,  and,  on  being  brought  be- 
fore the  authorities,  confessed  that  they  had  for- 
saken Buddhism.  "  The  death-yoke  was  then 
put  around  their  necks,  and  a  small  rope  was 
passed  through  the  holes  in  their  ears  (used  for 
ear-rings  by  all  natives)  and  carried  tightly 
over  the  beam  of  a  house.  After  being  thus 
tortured  all  night,  they  were  again  examined 
in  the  morning;  but,  with  a  fortitude  worthy 
of  the  noblest  traditions  of  the  early  Church, 
steadfastly  refused  to  deny  their  Saviour  even 
in  the  very  presence  of  death.  They  prepared 
for  execution  by  a  reverent  prayer,  closing 
with  the  words,  4  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my 
spirit.'  They  were  then  taken  to  the  jungle 
and  clubbed  to  death.  One  of  them,  not  dying 
quickly  enough  to  suit  the  executioners,  was 
thrust  through  the  heart  by  a  spear."  The 
whole  record  eloquently  testifies  to  the  genu- 
ineness of  faith  and  courage  of  fidelity  on  the 
part  of  these  first  martyrs  of  the  Laos  Church. 


198  SIAM 

Persecution        The  persecution,  however,  proved  to  be  short. 

Ended  The  hostile  governor  died,  and  his  snccessor 

was  less  truculent.  More  converts  were  bap- 
tized. In  1878,  another  crisis  occurred  over 
the  desire  of  two  native  Christians  to  be  married 
by  the  missionaries  without  providing  for  the 
feast  to  evil  spirits,  as  custom  required.  The 
relatives  appealed  to  the  magistrate,  who  sus- 
tained them  and  forbade  the  marriage.  The  mis- 
sionaries promptly  sent  a  petition  to  the  King 
in  Bangkok,  which  resulted  in  a  "  Proclamation 
of  Religious  Liberty  to  the  Laos."  This  ended 
all  persecution.  Chieng  Mai  became  the  centre 
of  a  widely  extended  work.  It  remained  the 
only  station,  however,  till  1885,  when  Dr.  and 

Further  Ad-  Mrs.  S.  C.  Peoples  opened  a  station  at  Lakawn. 
Lampoon  (since  consolidated  with  Chieng  Mai) 
was  occupied  in  1891,  Pre  in  1893  by  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  W.  A.  Briggs,  Nan  in  1894  by  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Peoples,  and  Chieng  Rai  in  1897  by  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  W.  C.  Dodd  and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  C.  H. 
Denman.  Thus  stations  were  located  at  the 
capitals  of  five  of  the  six  Laos  states  in  Siam, 
the  sixth,  Luang  Prabang,  being  inaccessible 
on  account  of  French  influence,  as  explained 
elsewhere. 

Present  The  mission  has  steadily  and  encouragingly 

status  developed,  until  now  there  are  44  missionaries, 

six  hospitals  and  dispensaries  treating  30,000 
patients  annually,  26  schools,  a  printing-press, 
18  organized  churches  with  3168  communicants, 
and  a  much  larger  number  of  inquirers  and 
adherents. 


MISSIONS  199 

Chieng  Mai  and  Lakawn  are  the  stations  Work  at 
where  the  largest  work  has  been  developed.  Chieng  Mai 
Here  the  institutional  work  centres.  The 
Girls'  Boarding  School  at  Chieng  Mai  is  as 
famous  in  the  north  as  the  Harriet  House 
School  for  Girls  is  in  the  south.  It  has  trained 
hundreds  of  girls  who  are  now  wives  and 
mothers  of  the  best  men  in  Laos,  while  others 
are  usefully  employed  as  teachers  and  Bible 
women.  The  Prince  Royal's  College  at  Chieng 
Mai  received  its  name  from  the  Crown  Prince, 
who,  in  January,  1906,  personally  laid  the 
corner-stone  of  the  new  building  with  im- 
pressive ceremonies. 

The  hospitals  and  boarding  schools  for  boys  Work  at 
and  girls  at  Lakawn  are  also  doing  a  fine  work,   Lakawn 
though  their  equipment  is  not  so  large  as  that  of 
the  Chieng  Mai  schools.     They  have  new  build- 
ings, and  their  accommodations  are  fully  taxed. 

The  press  at  Chieng  Mai  is  important  as  the 
only  press  in  the  world  which  uses  the  Laos 
language,  so  that  it  is  the  sole  means  for  giving 
the  Bible  and  a  Christian  literature  to  the  Laos- 
speaking  people.  Twelve  native  workmen  are 
employed  under  the  supervision  of  a  missionary, 
and  though  the  equipment  is  far  from  large,  the 
press  exerts  a  wide  influence  not  only  through  its 
distinctive  missionary  publications  but  through 
the  relations  which  it  sustains  to  the  officials, 
who  have  all  their  printing  done  by  it.  Vice  and 
intemperance  can  get  no  aid  from  the  printed 
page  in  Laos,  for  the  mission  press  will  not 
print  their  books,  circulars,  or  advertisements. 


200  SIAM 

RESULTS    AND   INFLUENCE 

Results  and  While  the  people  of  Siam,  from  King  to 
influence  coolie,  are  kindly  disposed  toward  the  mission- 
aries, and  while  there  is  an  almost  entire  absence 
of  that  opposition  which  has  been  encountered 
in  some  other  lands,  the  number  of  converts 
has  not  been  great,  there  being  now  only  about 
4000  adult  communicants  connected  with  all 
the  missions,  and  most  of  these  are  in  Laos. 
A  change  in  mission  policy  has  undoubtedly 
affected  numerical  tables  temporarily.  Unlike 
Korea  and  Uganda,  Siam  did  not  have  the  ad- 
vantage of  beginning  after  the  necessity  for 
self-support  had  become  generally  recognized, 
and,  like  most  of  the  older  missions,  it  had  to 
reconstruct  much  of  its  work,  in  some  cases 
being  obliged  to  begin  all  over  again.  Ac- 
customed to  a  liberal  use  of  all  foreign  money, 
the  native  Christians  resented  the  new  policy. 
The  missionaries  persisted,  and  to-day  most  of 
the  schools,  hospitals,  churches,  and  native 
helpers  are  supported  by  the  people.  It  is  not 
fair,  therefore,  to  contrast  the  present  statis- 
tical tables  with  those  of  a  decade  ago,  with- 
out taking  this  fact  into  consideration.  The 
work  is  now  on  a  sound  basis. 

A  Marvel-          What  Christ  can  do  for  these  people  is  abun- 
lous  trans-     dantlv  shown  by  the  transformation  which  He 

formation  J  »       *• 

has  effected  in  the  lives  of  those  who  have  ac- 
cepted Him.  The  head  chief  of  a  village  on  the 
peninsula  was  notorious  as  a  hard  character. 
He  was  converted  under  the  faithful  preaching 


EESULTS  201 

of  Dr.  Dunlap.  How  do  we  know  that  the 
conversion  was  genuine  ?  The  chief  summoned 
all  the  people  of  his  village,  and  announced  to 
them  his  determination  to  follow  Christ.  Then 
he  asked  the  forgiveness  of  those  whom  he  had 
wronged.  He  brought  out  his  bottles  of  liquor 
and  broke  them  to  pieces.  He  amazed  his  cred- 
itors by  paying  their  claims  in  full.  He  put 
away  all  his  wives  and  concubines,  except  his 
first  wife,  making  provision  for  their  support 
and  that  of  their  children,  so  that  they  might 
not  suffer.  Then,  in  the  presence  of  all  his 
people,  he  kneeled  down  and  solemnly  dedicated 
himself  and  all  his  possessions  to  the  service  of 
God. 

The  Christian  is  a  marked  man  among  his 
fellows,  distinguished  not  merely  for  his  differ- 
ence in  faith,  but  for  his  superior  intelligence, 
morality,  thrift,  and  integrity.  No  wonder  that 
the  governor  of  Puket  says  :  "  Wherever  the 
Christian  missionary  settles,  he  brings  good 
to  the  people.  Progress,  beneficial  institutions, 
cleanliness,  and  uplifting  of  the  people  result 
from  his  labors;"  while  the  high  commissioner 
of  the  same  province  told  Dr.  Dunlap,  in  1907, 
that  he  would  give  5000  ticals  for  a  hospital  in 
Tap  Teang  and  10,000  ticals  for  one  in  Puket,  if 
the  missionary  would  open  permanent  stations. 

It  should  be  noted,  too,  while  the  number  of  Social 
conversions  has  been  comparatively  small,  the  re.sul.ts  of 

•    i  TJ.        e       •      •  ™      t   i  i  missionary 

social  results  01  missionary  effort  have  been  un-  effort 
usually  large.      In    most   lands    converts   are 
the  first  permanent  results  of  missionary  labor, 


202  SIAM 

and  social  changes  come  later.  But  in  Siam  this 
order  has  been  reversed.  True,  converts  have 
not  been  lacking,  but  their  number  is  small  in 
comparison  with  the  reforms  which  missionary 
influence  has  been  the  chief  factor  in  producing. 
Indeed  it  is  probable  that  missionary  teaching 
lias  been  more  influential  in  establishing  the 
general  policy  and  developing  the  public  senti- 
ment of  the  country  than  in  many  lands  where 
the  number  of  converts  has  been  much  larger. 
The  reforms  inaugurated  by  the  King  are  di- 
rectly traceable  to  the  influence  of  the  mission- 
aries. The  ruler  of  a  country  in  which  Buddhism 
is  the  state  religion,  he  has  not  personally 
accepted  the  Christian  faith,  but  he  has  not 
hesitated  to  adopt  the  suggestions  which  the 
Christian  teachers  have  made. 

Some  Won-  The  late  ex-regent  remarked  in  1871  to  the 
derfuiTesti-  Hon4  George  F.  Seward,  then  American  Con- 
sul-General at  Shanghai,  that  "Siam  had  not 
been  disciplined  by  English  and  French  guns 
as  China,  but  the  country  had  been  opened  by 
missionaries." 

The  present  King  said  to  Dr.  Dunlap  in  1898, 
"I  am  glad  you  are  here  working  for  my  peo- 
ple, and  I  wish  you  success."  Such  words  from 
such  a  ruler  mean  much.  Strict  Buddhist 
though  he  is,  he  and  his  officials  not  only  grant 
full  religious  toleration,  but  assign  valuable 
property  to  Christian  mission  work  at  a  nomi- 
nal value,  as  at  Nakawn,  or  for  nothing,  as  at 
Ratburi.  Not  only  this,  but  the  King  person- 
ally contributed  12400  in  1888  to  enlarge  the 


RESULTS  203 

mission  hospital  at  Petchaburi.  He  also  gave 
at  various  times  11000  to  the  girls'  school  at 
the  same  station,  4000  ticals  to  the  mission 
hospital  at  Nakawn,  and  headed  a  list  of  donors 
of  the  new  site  for  the  Christian  Boys'  High 
School  at  Bangkok,  over  80  of  his  princes  and 
nobles  adding  their  names,  till  the  gifts  aggre- 
gated 17,000  ticals.  The  Queen,  in  1895,  gave 
the  money  for  a  women's  ward  at  the  Petcha- 
buri Hospital,  and  $1500  to  form  "  The  Queen's 
Scholarship  Fund  "  at  the  Harriet  House  Girls' 
School.  Prince  Devawongse  personally  said 
to  the  author  in  Bangkok,  "  Your  missionaries 
first  brought  civilization  to  my  country."  The 
American  Minister,  the  Hon.  Hamilton  King, 
says  that,  at  a  banquet  in  1899,  Prince  Dam- 
rong,  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  declared  in 
the  hearing  of  every  one  at  the  table:  "Mr. 
King,  I  want  to  say  to  you  that  we  have  great 
respect  for  your  American  missionaries  in  our 
country,  and  appreciate  very  highly  the  work 
they  are  doing  for  our  people.  I  want  this  to 
be  understood  by  every  one,  and  if  you  are  in 
a  position  to  let  it  be  known  to  your  country- 
men, I  wish  you  would  say  this  for  me." 

The  Hon.  John  Barrett,  American  Minister 
to  Siam,  1894-1898,  bore  frequent  and  em- 
phatic testimony  to  their  high  character  and 
the  great  value  of  their  work.  His  successor, 
the  Hon.  Hamilton  King,  writes  :  "  Siam  is  a 
country  in  which  the  American  missionaries 
have  made  no  mistakes  of  importance  and  where 
they  enjoy  the  fullest  respect  and  the  entire  con- 


204  SIAM 

fidence  of  the  government.  It  is  not  only  their 
preaching  that  is  making  their  influence  felt ; 
these  men  are  a  power  for  good  along  all  lines 
of  influence.  .  .  .  And  by  endeavoring  to  make 
the  people  to  whom  they  were  sent  a  little 
stronger,  a  little  happier,  and  a  little  better,  they 
have  gradually  been  commending  their  gospel  of 
a  good  and  holy  God,  who  is  everywhere  working 
out  the  best  for  His  children,  of  which  great 
family  all  men  are  members." 

OBSTACLES  AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS 

Obstacles  Obstacles  to  missionary  effort  are  not  want- 

ing. Many  vices,  against  which  there  is  little 
or  no  public  sentiment,  weaken  the  character 
of  the  people.  The  Roman  Catholics  are  so 
much  more  numerous  than  the  Protestants,  and 
their  alliance  with  French  political  designs  is 
so  open  and  aggressive,  that  to  many  Siamese 
the  term  Christian  suggests  a  Roman  Catholic. 
The  commissioner  of  a  certain  province  told  a 
Siamese  pastor  that  religion  was  only  a  matter 
of  form,  anyway,  and  as  Buddhism  was  their 
national  religion  and  Christianity  the  national 
religion  of  the  French,  he  saw  no  reason  for 
abandoning  their  faith  and  taking  that  of  the 
foreigners. 

indifference  Languid  indifference  is  the  special  obstacle  to 
mission  work  in  Siam  as  national  pride  is  in 
Japan,  ancestral  worship  in  China,  and  caste  in 
India.  A  tropical  climate,  a  prolific  soil,  and  a 
comparatively  sparse  population  remove  those 


THE    FUTURE  205 

incentives  to  energy  which  a  sterner  cliine,  a 
poorer  soil,  and  a  denser  overcrowding  supply 
in  China.  The  religious  beliefs  of  the  people 
intensify  this  physical  and  mental  sloth  by  com- 
mending the  passive  rather  than  the  active  life. 

In  spite  of  these  obstacles,  Siam  and  Laos  Encourage- 
are  promising  mission  fields.  There  are  notable  ments 
advantages  in  the  openness  of  the  entire  coun- 
try, the  good-will  of  all  classes  of  people,  the 
avowed  favor  of  the  government,  the  willing- 
ness of  high  officials  to  send  their  children  to 
mission  schools,  the  disposition  of  the  authori- 
ties to  prefer  graduates  of  mission  institutions 
for  official  positions,  the  frankly  expressed 
gratitude  of  the  King  and  his  ministers  for  the 
services  which  the  missionaries  have  rendered 
to  Siam,  and  the  comparative  absence  of  that 
bitter  poverty  which  so  oppresses  the  traveller 
in  India.  Then  there  is  no  caste,  no  ancestral 
worship,  no  child  marriage,  no  shutting  up  of 
women  in  inaccessible  zenanas. 

In  no  other  country  of  Asia,  except  Korea,  Friendliness 
are  Protestant  missionaries  regarded  with 
greater  friendliness  by  people  of  all  ranks. 
Their  lives  and  property  are  as  safe  as  if  they 
were  under  British  rule  in  India.  Princes 
and  nobles  are  their  friends.  Men  trained  in 
the  universities  of  Europe  ask  them  questions. 
Missionary  educators  teach  the  sons  of  gov- 
ernors, judges,  and  high  commissioners,  and 
missionary  physicians  are  called  into  the  homes 
of  the  proudest  officials. 

Most   significant   of   all,  there  is   a   general 


206  SIAM 

Religious       expectation  of  another  and  more  perfect  incar- 

expectation    nation  of  Buddha. 

The  result  is,  that  as  the  missionaries  go 
about  with  the  good  tidings  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  people  ask  one  another  in  awed  tones, 
"Is  not  this  He  for  whom  we  look?"  Bud- 
dhist monks,  instead  of  being  bitterly  hostile, 
like  the  priests  and  mullahs  of  other  lands, 
invite  the  missionaries  to  the  temples  and 
eagerly  inquire  of  them  further  of  this  matter. 
Mr.  Dodd  says  :  "  Most  of  our  auditors  looked 
upon  Jesus  as  the  next  Buddha,  the  Saviour, 
Ahreyah  Mettai.  Many  lifted  both  hands  in 
worship  of  the  pictures,  the  books,  and  the 
preachers.  Our  colporteurs  were  treated  in 
most  places  as  the  messengers  of  the  Buddhist 
Messiah.  Offerings  of  food,  flowers,  and  wax 
tapers  were  made  to  them.  In  return,  they 
were  expected  to  bless  the  givers.  They  ex- 
plained that  they  themselves  were  sinners  de- 
riving all  merit  and  blessing  from  God,  and 
then  reverently  asked  a  blessing  from  Him. 
Thus  Christian  services  were  held  in  hundreds 
of  homes." 

Dr.  Briggs  writes  of  one  of  his  tours  :  "  The 
message  was  received  with  outspoken  gratitude 
and  intelligent  interest,  many  of  the  people 
remaining  till  long  after  midnight,  reading  the 
books  and  tracts  by  the  light  of  the  fire,  and 
asking  questions  of  the  Christians  in  our 
company.  The  people,  hungry  for  truth  that 
satisfies  and  longing  for  light,  are  very  anx- 
iously awaiting  the  coming  of  the  promised  mes- 


THE   FUTURE  207 

siah  of  Buddhism.     What  a  preparation  for  the 
true  Messiah  !  " 

Never  has   the    Christian   missionary  had  a  Great  Op- 
better    opportunity   to   take  tactful  advantage  P°rtumty 
of  a  national  belief  for  the  introduction  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ. 

My  heart  lovingly  lingers  upon  my  journey- 
ings  through  the  Land  of  the  White  Elephant 
—  the  month  upon  its  mighty  rivers,  now 
towed  by  a  noisy  launch,  now  poled  by  half- 
naked  tattooed  boatmen,  now  shooting  .tumult- 
uous rapids  through  weirdly  savage  canons  ; 
the  days  of  elephant  travel  through  the  vast 
forests,  slowly  picking  our  way  along  the 
boulder-strewn  bed  of  mountain  streams,  trav- 
ersing beautiful  valleys,  and  climbing  rocky 
heights,  the  huge  beasts  never  making  a  mis- 
step even  in  the  most  slippery  steeps ;  the 
nights  when  we  pitched  our  tents  in  the  heart 
of  the  great  jungle,  the  camp-fire  throwing  its 
fitful  light  upon  the  boles  of  giant  trees  and  the 
tangled  labyrinth  of  tropical  vines  mid  which 
monkeys  curiously  watched  us  and  unseen 
beasts  growled  their  anger  at  our  intrusion. 
Most  delightful  of  all  are  my  memories  of  the 
unvarying  kindness  of  the  people,  who,  from 
his  Majesty  the  King  down  through  princes, 
commissioners,  and  governors  to  humble  vil- 
lagers, showed  a  hospitable  friendliness  which 
quite  won  my  heart ;  while  it  would  be  hard 
to  conceive  a  more  loving  welcome  than  was 
extended  to  us  by  the  missionaries  and  by  our 


208  SIAM 

able  and  sympathetic  American  Minister  and 
his  family.  More  profitable  to  us  than  they 
could  possibly  have  been  to  the  workers  were 
our  long  conferences  regarding  the  Lord's 
work  in  that  far-off  land.  It  is  prospering  in 
their  hands,  and  it  will  prosper  to  a  far  greater 
degree  if  the  Church  at  home  will  give  to  them 
that  loving,  prayerful,  and  generous  coopera- 
tion which  the  missionaries  in  Siam  and  Laos  so 
well  deserve. 


BUBMA 

Scale  of  Statute  Miles 


16° 


Stations  of  A.  B.  M.  U.:  Shwegyin       Capitals 

Tribes  :   KARENS  Railroads  '   ' 

A         94°        Longitude     B     East  9 


BUKMA 


THE  REV.  ARTHUR  JUDSON  BROWN,  D.D. 


CHAPTER  VI 
BURMA 

BUEMA  forms  the  northeastern  part  of  Great 
Britain's  vast  empire  in  India.  The  political 
readjustments  of  the  last  century  have  changed 
the  boundaries  at  various  times,  but  the  region  Position 
which  now  bears  the  name  includes  both  Upper 
and  Lower  Burma  and  the  Shan  States.  The 
areas  are :  Lower  Burma,  81,138  square  miles; 
Upper  Burma,  87,435 ;  Shan  States,  68,165 ;  a 
total  of  236,738  square  miles.  In  other  words, 
Burma  is  larger  than  France,  and  almost  as  large 
as  Texas.  The  length,  north  and  south,  is  about 
1100  miles,  and  the  breadth  at  the  widest  point 
is  about  700. 

The  physical  configuration  may  be  roughly  Physical 
described  as  a  series  of  parallel  mountain  ranges  Features 
running  north  and  south,  and  separated  by  fer- 
tile river  valleys.  The  largest  river  is  the  Irra- 
waddy,  which  is  navigable  for  900  miles.  The 
next  largest,  the  Salween,  is  not  navigable. 
Between  these  two  river  basins  is  another  con- 
siderable stream,  the  Sittang.  There  are  sev- 
eral smaller  streams,  the  principal  ones  being 
the  Chindwin,  the  Myitnge,  and  the  Tenasserim. 
All  the  rivers  have  numerous  tributaries,  on 
which  the  natives  journey  and  transport  their 
produce  by  canoes. 

211 


212 


BURMA 


Natural 
Divisions 


Climate 


Flora 


The  lines  of  communication  naturally  run 
north  and  south  along  the  valleys.  Travelling 
east  and  west  is  difficult,  as  jungle-covered 
mountains  have  to  be  crossed.  This  jungle 
teems  with  monkeys,  birds  of  tropical  plumage, 
and  some  of  the  largest  and  fiercest  game  in  the 
world,  —  the  tiger,  buffalo,  elephant,  and  rhi- 
noceros. About  2000  people  and  10,000  cattle 
are  killed  annually  by  serpents  and  poisonous 
insects. 

The  climate  is  tropical,  Burma  being  in  about 
the  latitude  of  Cuba.  As  in  most  tropical  re- 
gions, there  are  practically  but  two  seasons,  wet 
and  dry.  In  the  wet  season,  from  May  to  Oc- 
tober, the  rainfall  is  over  sixteen  feet  at  some 
points  on  the  coast.  There  is  a  belt  in  the  re- 
gion of  Mandalay  where  there  is  so  little  rain 
that  irrigation  is  necessary ;  but  north  of  it,  at 
Bhamo,  the  downpour  is  again  heavy.  Life  in 
the  wet  season  is  even  more  uncomfortable  than 
during  "  the  hot  season "  which  immediately 
precedes  it.  The  sodden  land  literally  steams 
under  the  continued  heat,  and  shoes,  books,  and 
clothing  are  covered  with  mould  in  a  single 
night. 

The  soil  of  the  valleys  is  very  fertile.  Though 
nine-tenths  of  the  people  subsist  by  cultivating 
the  soil,  and  the  average  farm  is  sixteen  acres, 
less  than  twenty-four  per  cent  of  the  total  area 
is  now  tilled.  The  chief  products  are  teak, 
lumber,  rice,  wheat,  and  other  food  grains,  petro- 
leum, oil  seeds,  cotton,  tobacco,  sugar  cane,  tea, 
and  indigo.  Excellent  amber  is  found  in  some 


THE  COUNTRY  213 

quantities.  Rubies  are  exported  to  the  value  of 
about  $ 500,000  annually.  Four  million  pounds 
of  jade  are  mined  in  an  average  year. 

The  population  is  10,490,624,  of  which  about  Population 
one-half  (5,405,967)  are  in  Lower  Burma, 
3,846,908  in  Upper  Burma,  and  1,237,749  in  the 
Shan  States.  This  gives  Lower  Burma  67  in- 
habitants to  the  square  mile,  Upper  Burma  44, 
and  the  Shan  States  18,  —  an  average  for  the 
whole  country  of  44. 

The  Burmans  proper  form  about  four-fifths  Race  and 
of  the  population.     The  original  stock  is  sup-  phara.c- 

^   \  &  r     tenstics 

posed  to  have  migrated  in  prehistoric  times 
from  the  borders  of  Tibet.  The  typical  Bur- 
man  is  of  medium  height,  heavier  in  form  than 
the  Hindu,  has  long  black  hair  and  rather  flat 
features.  He  is  fond  of  theatrical  amusements 
and  loves  to  array  himself  in  bright  colors. 
To  the  traveller  from  India,  the  contrast  is 
striking.  Instead  of  emaciated,  sad-faced  peo- 
ple, he  sees  happy,  sleek,  and  well-fed  men  and 
women.  There  is  no  caste,  and  all  classes  min- 
gle freely.  Like  the  Siamese,  the  Burman  is 
indolent  and  regards  work  as  beneath  him. 
The  soil  of  his  country  is  so  rich,  the  climate 
so  well  adapted  to  vegetation,  and  the  popula- 
tion so  comparatively  sparse  that  wants  are 
fewer  than  in  the  more  temperate  clime  from 
which  his  ancestors  came.  His  taste  is  not  fas- 
tidious. His  staple  food,  rice,  is  clean  enough, 
but  he  flavors  it  with  nga-pee,  putrid  fish. 
His  Buddhist  objection  to  taking  life  does  not 
trouble  him  in  the  least,  for,  he  argues,  he  does 


214  BURMA 

not  kill  the  fish;  they  simply  die  when  he  takes 
them  out  of  the  water.  He  "  dries  "  them  on 
mats  in  the  sun,  without  dressing,  pounds  them 
to  a  paste,  adds  a  little  salt,  drains  off  the  oil, 
and  then  spreads  the  paste  on  his  rice  and  eats 
it  with  keen  relish.  We  shall  never  forget  the 
odor  of  those  decaying  fish.  We  could  tell  a 
mile  away  when  we  were  approaching  the  "  dry- 
ing "  mats.  As  the  other  tribes  are  equally  care- 
less in  eating  and  drinking  and  disposal  of 
garbage,  and  as  there  is  total  ignorance  of  the 
real  causes  of  disease  and  of  proper  methods 
of  treating  it,  Burma  affords  many  victims  for 
cholera,  plague,  malaria,  dysentery,  and  other 
tropical  diseases. 

Dress  The  dress  of  the  common  people  is  simply  a 

strip  of  colored  cotton  cloth  around  the  loins 
and  another  on  the  head.  With  some  varia- 
tions in  the  method  of  draping,  the  loin  cloth 
serves  for  both  sexes,  the  women  simply  let- 
ting it  fall  a  little  lower  on  the  limbs.  Chil- 
dren wear  nothing  at  all. 

In  spite  of  his  laziness,  his  poverty,  his  shift- 
lessness,  and  the  ease  with  which  a  handful  of 
the  British  have  defeated  him  in  war  and  a 
few  thousand  Chinese  have  made  themselves 
masters  of  his  trade,  the  Burman  is  one  of  the 
most  self-satisfied  of  mortals,  proudly  regard- 
ing himself  as  superior  to  all  other  races.  He 
smokes  his  cigarette,  chews  his  betel,  eats  his 
"  fragrant "  fish,  lounges  in  his  bamboo  hut,  and 
is  calmly  indifferent  to  the  rest  of  the  world. 
"  Custom  "  is  his  law  of  life.  No  matter  whether 


THE  COUNTRY  215 

a  new  way  is  better  or  not,  he  follows  the  old, 
and  if  you  ask  him  why,  he  shrugs  his  shoulders 
and  replies,  "It  is  custom." 

Let  us  be  careful  in  our  judgment,  however. 
The  Burmans  are  not  the  only  conceited  people 
on  earth.  There  are  a  few  in  America.  Nor 
do  we  have  to  travel  halfway  around  the  world 
to  find  the  indolent  and  careless.  The  Burman 
has  some  good  qualities,  and  if  he  had  the  in- 
vigorating teachings  of  the  Gospel,  he  would 
develop  them.  Here  is  our  opportunity  and 
our  duty. 

Women  have  considerable  freedom.  There  Women 
is  no  such  seclusion  of  females  as  in  India. 
They  freely  mingle  with  men  and  attend  to  the 
business  matters  of  the  family.  The  marriage 
tie  is  loose,  and  concubinage  is  common.  The 
use  of  tobacco  and  betel  nut  is  universal,  not 
only  by  men,  but  also  by  women  and  children. 
British  law  also  deals  so  sternly  with  gambling, 
theft,  and  violence  that  outwardly  the  Burmans  vices 
seem  less  lawless  than  some  other  peoples.  But 
their  natural  disposition  is  not  changed  by  these 
laws,  but  simply  held  in  check.  Drunkenness 
and  opium  smoking  are  not  so  common  as  the 
former  is  in  England  and  the  latter  in  China, 
but  both  are  rapidly  increasing  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  European  in  one  case  and  the 
Chinese  in  the  other.  Most  foreigners  in  Asia, 
outside  of  the  missionary  circle,  drink  heavily, 
and  the  native  soon  learns  to  imitate  them. 

The  remaining  fifth  of  the  population  is  made 
up  of  heterogeneous  elements,  fifty-seven  in- 


216 


BURMA 


digenous  peoples  or  tribes  being  enumerated 
by  the  British  census,  besides  a  considerable 
number  of  non-indigenous  races.  We  mention 
those  which  are  most  important  from  a  mission- 
ary view-point :  — 

The  Karens  The  Karens,  714,000  in  number,  are  descend- 
ants of  a  people  who  also  originally  migrated 
into  Burma  from  the  western  part  of  China, 
forced  out  apparently  by  the  ever-advancing 
Chinese.  They  are  divided  into  several  scat- 
tered tribes,  the  three  leading  ones  being  the 
Sgaws,  Pwos,  and  Bghais.  The  Sgaws  number 
about  260,000  and  the  Pvvos  310,000.  Both 
these  tribes  are  in  Lower  Burma.  The  Bghais 
are  more  warlike  in  temper,  and  are  to  be  found 
among  the  mountains  farther  north.  They  are 
a  simple-minded  people,  distinctly  lower  than 
the  Burmans  in  civilization,  and,  before  the 
arrival  of  the  British,  suffered  much  from  the 
cruelty  of  their  stronger  neighbors. 

Traditions  There  has  been  much  speculation  as  to  where 
and  how  the  Karens  obtained  some  of  the  tra- 
ditions which  they  jealously  guard  and  hand 
down  from  generation  to  generation.  This 
folklore  apparently  points  to  an  earlier  knowl- 
edge of  the  biblical  narrative,  for  it  includes 
tales  of  the  creation  of  woman  from  the  rib  of 
the  first  man,  of  the  sin  of  the  first  man  and 
the  first  woman,  of  the  wrath  of  God  on  ac- 
count of  transgression,  but  of  His  promise  to 
send  deliverance  and  happiness  through  "  white 
foreigners  "  who  were  to  come  "  in  ships  from 
the  west." 


THE  COUNTRY  217 

It  will  readily  be  seen  what  a  remark- 
able preparation  for  the  Gospel  message  such 
traditions  afford.  The  missionary  with  his 
proclamation  of  Christ  seems  to  these  poor, 
oppressed  people  the  fulfilment  of  their  long- 
cherished  dreams.  It  is  not  surprising,  there- 
fore, that  mission  work  has  made  far  more 
rapid  progress  among  the  Karens  than  among 
other  elements  of  the  population. 

The  Talaings,  or  Mons,  as  they  prefer  to  call  Taiaings 
themselves,  are  supposed  to  be  the  oldest  of  the 
peoples  of  modern  Burma,  having  moved  south- 
ward from  Tibet  in  an  unknown  antiquity. 
They  resemble  the  Burmans  in  many  ways,  but 
their  language  is  different.  For  a  considerable 
period  they  maintained  a  separate  kingdom, 
with  Pegu  as  their  capital.  Frequent  wars 
with  the  Burmans  resulted  in  their  final  sub- 
jugation by  Alompra  in  1755.  There  are  now 
321,898  Talaings  in  Burma  and  a  consider- 
able additional  number  in  Siam,  to  which  there 
have  been  several  emigrations. 

The  Shans,  descendants  of  a  migration  from  Ths  Shans 
western  China  before  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era,  number  751,759,  and  occupy  the 
valleys  and  hill  slopes  of  the  Shan  States  in 
northeastern  Burma.  Their  kings  once  ruled 
over  a  territory  in  northern  and  central  Burma, 
which  varied  in  area  as  they  were  conquerors 
or  conquered  in  their  numerous  wars  with  the 
Burmans,  who,  however,  finally  succeeded  in 
subduing  them.  They  are  roughly  divided 
into  Eastern  Shans  and  Western  Shans,  the 


218 


BURMA 


Salween  watershed  being  the  general  dividing 
line.  Each  of  these  main  divisions,  however, 
is  subdivided  into  several  tribes.  The  East- 
ern Shans  belong  to  the  Tai  race  and  are, 
therefore,  more  like  their  cousins,  the  Laos 
and  Siamese,  than  the  Burmans.  The  Shans  in 
general  are  more  alert  and  self-reliant  than  the 
Burmans.  They  are  famous  as  traders.  Like 
the  Burmans  and  Laos,  they  are  fond  of  jewel- 
lery, and  all  men  and  boys  are  closely  tattooed 
from  below  the  knee  to  the  waist. 

Kachins  The  65,510  Kachins  are  hill-dwellers  in  Upper 

Burma,  hardy,  clannish,  warlike  mountaineers, 
who  frequently  raided  the  Burman  villages 
of  the  plains  and  scoffed  at  the  rage  of  the 
softer  people,  until  British  machine  guns  put 
an  end  to  their  forays.  They  are  lower  in 
the  scale  of  civilization  than  the  Burmans 
and  Shans,  ignorant,  superstitious,  and  filthy 
in  dress  and  habits,  but  still  aggressive  and 
disposed  to  press  the  Shans  southward.  They 
are  demon-worshippers  in  religion. 

The  Chins  The  Chins,  of  whom  there  are  180,000,  inhabit 
the  mountainous  region  in  the  northwest.  Like 
the  Kachins,  whom  they  resemble,  they  are  not 
Buddhists  but  demon-worshippers  For  a  con- 
siderable period,  they  gave  the  British  much 
trouble,  and  it  was  not  till  1890  that  they 
were  really  subdued.  Morally,  they  are  low, 
impurity  and  drunkenness  being  almost  uni- 
versal. 

The  Chinese  are  in  evidence  in  all  the  lead- 
ing cities,  as  they  are  in  Siam  and  the  Straits 


THE  COUNTRY  219 

Settlements.  There  are  63,000  in  Burma,  half 
of  whom  are  in  Rangoon.  Their  industry, 
patience,  and  thrift  easily  secure  commercial 
preeminence,  and  the  bulk  of  the  business  of 
the  country  is  in  their  hands. 

East  Indians  are  also  numerous,  particularly  East 
in  the  cities.     The  facts  that  Burma  is  the  most  Indians 
prosperous  province  of  British  India,  that  the 
population  is  less  crowded,  and  that  wages  are 
much  higher  than  in  India  proper,  attract  large 
numbers  of  the  poverty-stricken  natives  from 
the  provinces  west  of  the  Bay  of  Bengal. 

There  are  several  cities  of  considerable  local 
importance.  The  first  of  these,  of  course,  is 
Rangoon,  the  capital  and  metropolis,  on  the 
Rangoon  River,  about  fifteen  miles  from  the 
sea.  From  a  wretched  fishing  village,  in  1852, 
it  has  grown  to  a  city  of  nearly  a  quarter  of 
a  million  inhabitants.  Commercially,  it  ranks 
third  in  all  British  India,  being  exceeded  only 
by  Calcutta  and  Bombay.  Its  rice  mills  and 
lumber  yards  are  of  great  size,  and  every  visitor 
curiously  watches  the  trained  elephants  pick 
up  timbers  and  carefully  pile  them. 

Religiously,  Rangoon  is  celebrated  for  its  Kangoon 
pagodas  and  monasteries.  The  Shwe  Dagon 
Pagoda  is  the  most  famous  in  all  Indo- China. 
It  is  370  feet  in  height,  1335  in  circumference, 
and  is  gilded  to  the  summit,  the  upper  part  hav- 
ing been  laid  in  1903  with  sheets  of  beaten  gold 
at  a  cost  of  over  $250,000.  The  great  "ti"  or 
umbrella  which  surmounts  it  is  so  lavishly  em- 
bellished with  gold  and  jewels  that  it  alone  cost 


220  SURMA 

.£50,000.  Innumerable  silver  bells  are  sus- 
pended from  it,  and  when  they  are  swayed  by  the 
wind,  the  soft  music  is  very  beautiful.  Standing 
upon  the  summit  of  a  terraced  mound  166  feet 
high,  this  lofty  and  splendid  pagoda  can  be  seen 
from  a  great  distance,  blazing  with  burnished 
splendor  in  the  tropical  sunshine.  It  is  be- 
lieved to  contain  genuine  relics  not  only  of 
Buddha  but  of  his  three  illustrious  predecessors. 
Innumerable  pilgrims  visit  this  shrine,  some  com- 
ing as  far  as  from  Ceylon,  Siam,  and  Cambodia. 
The  throngs  of  people  of  many  nationalities, 
the  variety  of  brilliantly  colored  garments,  the 
wealth  of  cloth  and  jewels  and  goods  of  every 
description  in  the  little  shops,  the  lights  of 
thousands  of  burning  candles,  the  tinkling  of 
bells,  the  chatter  and  laughter  of  myriad 
voices,  the  never-ending  chants  of  worshippers 
and,  high  over  all,  the  stately  glory  of  the 
great  Pagoda,  combine  to  make  a  scene  which, 
once  seen,  can  never  be  forgotten. 

Moulmein,  on  the  Salween  River,  eight  hours 
by  steamer  from  Rangoon,  is  a  beautiful  city  of 
56,000  inhabitants,  and  is  famous  for  its  teak 
lumber  trade  and  for  its  wood  and  ivory  carv- 
ings. 

Mandalay  Mandalay,  386  miles  from  Rangoon,  is  a  city 
of  180,000  inhabitants.  It  was  the  capital  of 
Burma  from  1860  to  1885.  While  it  was  the 
residence  of  the  King,  it  was  a  place  of  large 
importance,  but  since  the  downfall  of  the  native 
dynasty  and  the  transfer  of  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment to  Rangoon,  it  has  lost  ground.  It  is 


GOVERNMENT  221 

still,  however,  a  place  of  considerable  impor- 
tance. Some  of  its  pagodas  are  magnificent 
in  size  and  splendor,  and  the  bazaar  is  crowded 
with  people  of  many  tribes. 

There  are  a  few  other  cities  of  considerable  Bhamo 
local  influence.  Bhamo  is  at  the  head  of  navi- 
gation of  the  Irrawaddy,  and  is  a  military  trade 
and  mission  centre.  Prome  is  an  ancient  capi- 
tal and  has  about  30,000  population.  Bassein 
also  has  30,000  people  and  a  good  local  trade. 
Pegu,  though  now  having  but  12,000  inhabit- 
ants, boasts  a  history  dating  back  to  573  A.D. 
It  was  the  capital  of  the  Talaing  Kingdom,  and 
in  the  sixteenth  century  it  is  said  to  have  been 
a  splendid  city.  Smaller  places  are,  of  course, 
numerous. 

GOVERNMENT 

As   Burma  forms   a   part    of   British  India,   Government 
its  government  is,  of  course,  the  same  as  that 
of  India.     The  story  of  the  white  man's  con- 
quest  is   a   stirring  one,  but   only  the   barest 
outline  of  facts  and  dates  can  be  given  here. 

Portuguese  and  Dutch  traders  entered  Burma 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  but  in  the  early  years 
of  the  seventeenth  century  the  future  masters 
of  Burma  appeared  in  the  agents  of  the  Brit- 
ish East  India  Company.     Disputes   with   the  The  East 
haughty  Burmans  were  frequent,  and  in  1759,  India 
King  Alompra  caused  10  Englishmen  and  100  Company 
of  their  East  Indian  employees  to  be  killed  and 
their   factories  destroyed.     In  1824,  the  vain- 
glorious Burmese  undertook  to  teach  the  Brit- 


222  BURMA 

ish  a  sharper  lesson  by  invading  Assam  and 
Manipur  and  marching  toward  Bengal.  They 
proved  to  be  the  learners,  however,  for  the 
British  declared  war,  expelled  the  invaders, 
and  captured  several  Burmese  cities,  includ- 
ing Rangoon.  Sixty  thousand  Burmese  tried 
to  drive  them  out ;  but,  though  ravaged  by 
disease  until  seventy-two  per  cent  died  and 
only  1300  English  and  2500  Indian  troops  were 
able  to  fight,  the  little  army  easily  scattered  the 
unorganized  hordes  of  natives.  Strengthened 
by  reinforcements,  the  British  pressed  on  till, 
in  February,  1826,  the  defeated  native  ruler 
was  glad  to  sign  a  treaty  of  peace  ceding  Arra- 
kan,  Assam,  and  the  coast  of  Tenasserim,  and 
paying  an  indemnity  of  £  1,000,000  toward  the 
cost  of  the  war.  A  British  resident  came  in 
1830  "  to  advise  "  the  native  King. 

War  of  1852  A  renewal  of  indignities  to  British  subjects 
led  to  the  Second  War,  in  1852,  which  resulted 
in  the  annexation  by  the  British  of  a  consider- 
able part  of  the  province  of  Pegu.  In  1862, 
the  provinces  of  Pegu,  Arrakan,  Tenasserim, 
and  Martoban  were  constituted  the  province 
of  British  Burma  under  the  administration  of 
a  chief  commissioner. 

In  1878,  the  notorious  Thibaw  ascended  the 
throne.  He  began  his  reign  by  inviting  several 
score  of  his  royal  relatives  to  the  palace  and 
then  murdering  them.  These  murders  were 
followed  by  others  in  Mandalay  and  elsewhere, 
until  more  than  a  thousand  princes,  princesses, 
nobles  and  officials  and  their  children  had  been 


GOVEENMENT  223 

slaughtered.  Thibaw's  treacherous  and  bloody  Thibaw 
reign,  his  insulting  treatment  of  the  British 
resident,  his  negotiations  with  France  and 
other  continental  powers,  his  imposition  of  a 
fine  of  £230,000  on  the  Bombay  Burma  Trad- 
ing Corporation,  and  his  refusal  of  the  Indian 
government's  proposal  to  arbitrate  the  question 
at  issue,  combined  to  lead  the  British  to  send 
him  an  ultimatum,  October  22,  1885.  The  fat- 
uous King  haughtily  rejected  it,  and  ordered  his 
troops  to  drive  the  hated  white  men  into  the 
sea.  The  British  promptly  marched  on  Man- 
dalay,  captured  it,  sent  Thibaw  and  his  Jezebel 
Queen  prisoners  to  India,  and  January  1,  1886, 
formally  annexed  Upper  Burma  to  the  British 
Empire.  Conventions  with  China  in  1886  and 
1894  recognized  British  supremacy  in  Burma 
and  defined  the  frontier,  and  in  1897  the  whole 
country  was  made  a  province  of  British  India 
under  a  lieutenant-governor. 

The  British  have  done  for  Burma  substantially  British  Rule 
what  they  have  done  for  other  parts  oi  their  In- 
dian Empire.  A  railroad  runs  fiom  Rangoon 
to  Myityna  on  the  frontier,  and  the  line  is  sur- 
veyed as  far  as  Chung-king  in  China.  There 
are  excellent  carriage  roads,  particularly  in 
Lower  Burma,  aggregating  9368  miles,  with 
rest-houses  at  convenient  intervals  built  and 
furnished  by  the  government  and  available  for 
foreign  travellers.  The  India  post-office  and 
telegraph  system  reaches  all  the  important 
cities  and  most  of  the  smaller  towns  of  the 
country. 


224  BURMA 

KELIGIONS 

Religion  Of  the  10,490,624  people  of  Burma,  9,184,121 

are  Buddhists.  The  others  are  distributed  as 
follows :  Animists,  399,390 ;  Mohammedans, 
339,446;  Hindus,  285,484;  Christians,  147,525; 
Sikhs,  6,596;  Jews,  685;  Parsees,245;  Jains,  93; 
miscellaneous,  127,039. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  Burma  is  dis- 
tinctively a  Buddhist  country.  There  are  over 
20,000  monks.  As  in  Siam,  every  male  is  ex- 
pected to  spend  some  time  in  the  monastery. 
He  must  shave  his  head  and  don  the  yellow 
robe.  Pagodas,  temples,  and  monasteries  are 
literally  innumerable.  No  hamlet  is  so  small 
that  it  does  not  have  a  temple  and  monastery, 
and  the  larger  towns  have  scores  of  them.  The 
Buddhist  teaching,  which  assigns  great "  merit " 
to  the  man  who  erects  a  religious  structure,  leads 
to  constant  additions  to  the  number. 

MISSIONS 

Missions  Missionary  work  in  Burma  is  conducted  by 

the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  the 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Missionary 
Society,  the  China  Inland  Mission,  the  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  and  the 
Evangelistic  Lutheran  Mission  of  Leipzig.  The 
following  undenominational  agencies  are  also 
engaged  in  the  special  lines  of  work  for  which 
they  are  organized:  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society,  the  Missionary  Pence  Association, 


MISSIONS  225 

I 

the  Mission  to  Lepers  in  India  and  the  East, 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  the 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association. 

The  C.  I.  M.,  of  course,  seeks  only  the  Chi-  China  in- 
nese.  Its  work,  begun  in  1875,  is  small,  there 
being  but  one  family  at  Bhamo  and  five  con- 
verts. The  Lutheran  work  is  also  small.  The 
Wesleyan  Mission,  begun  among  the  British 
soldiers  by  the  Rev.  W.  B.  Simpson  in  1885, 
and  among  the  natives  by  the  Rev.  W.  R.  Win- 
ston in  1887,  now  has  five  stations,  eight 
missionaries,  30  schools,  and  503  communicants. 
There  are  good  high  schools  with  boarding  de- 
partments at  the  principal  stations.  The  large 
Leper  Home  in  Mandalay  is  manned  by  the 
Wesleyan  missionaries,  though  supported  by  the 
Mission  to  Lepers  in  the  East.  The  points  occu- 
pied are  Mandalay,  which  is  the  chief  centre, 
Pakokku,  Monywa,  and  Kyaukse. 

The  work  of  the  American  Methodists  was  The 
inaugurated  by  Bishop  James  M.  Thoburn,  of  Methodists 
India.  In  compliance  with  an  urgent  invita- 
tion, he  visited  Rangoon  in  1879  and  organized 
an  English-speaking  church.  The  congregation 
started  with  an  encouragingly  large  member- 
ship, which  made  it  self-supporting  from  the  be- 
ginning. A  church  edifice  was  dedicated  March 
25,  1880.  Mr.  Carter  soon  arrived  from  Amer- 
ica, with  his  wife,  and  became  pastor.  The 
church  became  an  influential  factor  in  the  re- 
ligious life  of  the  city,  doing  considerable  local 
work  among  the  Tamils  and  Telegus,  and  giving 
liberally  to  various  causes.  Bishop  Thoburn 


226  BURMA 

says,  "The  Rangoon  congregation  is  the  best 
working  church  I  have  known  in  any  land." 

The  need  of  a  school  for  girls  was  soon  felt, 
and  the  Rangoon  Girls'  High  School  was  estab- 
lished by  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  in  1882.  The  government  showed  its 
good- will  by  donating  a  commodious  site  and 
$5000  toward  the  cost  of  a  building,  besides 
several  hundred  dollars  more  for  furnishing. 
Friends  in  Rangoon  raised  a  generous  additional 
sum,  so  that  the  principal,  Miss  Ellen  Warner, 
who  arrived  in  1881,  had  the  satisfaction  of 
moving  the  school  into  a  handsome  building 
worth  -$15,000.  Within  a  year,  a  hundred  girls 
were  in  attendance.  Current  expenses  as  well 
as  property  were  secured  on  the  field,  and,  apart 
from  the  salary  of  the  missionary  in  charge,  no 
help  was  received  from  America  until  1899, 
when  friends  of  Mrs.  Charlotte  O'Neal,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Pacific  Branch  of  the  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  erected  a  dormitory 
and  residence  now  known  as  the  Charlotte 
O'Neal  Institute.  The  school  has  developed 
into  a  large  institution,  with  40  boarders,  and 
270  day  pupils.  About  50  of  these  are  Jews 
or  Parsees,  and  the  rest  are  Eurasians.  A 
school  for  Burmese  girls  was  added  in  1892. 
This  also  has  prospered.  In  1904,  an  addi- 
tional building,  "  Shattuck  Hall,"  was  erected, 
and  the  year  1907  saw  still  another  building, 
"  Hagerty  Home,"  added.  Over  200  pupils  are 
in  attendance. 

Sympathy  for  friendless  and  destitute  orphans 


MISSIONS  227 

led  to  the  opening  of  an  Orphanage  and  Indus-  Orphanage 
trial  School  in  1887.  Friends  in  Rangoon  came 
forward  nobly,  with  gifts  aggregating  $5000. 
$1300  from  America  were  added,  arid  in  1889  a 
good  property  was  secured.  In  1897,  it  was 
deemed  expedient  to  remove  the  institution  to 
Thandang,  160  miles  north  of  Rangoon,  where 
conditions  were  not  only  more  healthful,  but  more 
favorable  to  the  training  of  such  girls  than  in  a 
large  port  city.  The  friendly  government  made 
a  lease  of  a  hundred  acres  of  land  for  a  low  figure. 

"  Beginning  in  the  most  primitive  and  isolated 
surroundings,  with  a  bamboo  hut  having  but 
one  door  and  no  windows,"  this  institution  pros- 
pered to  such  an  extent  that  it  outgrew  a  first 
and  then  a  second  building,  and  now  it  is  housed 
in  the  "  Elizabeth  Pearson  Hall,"  erected  in 
1907,  at  a  cost  of  $21,000.  The  property  is  self- 
supporting,  and  its  beneficent  care  has  blessed 
hundreds  of  orphans  for  time  and  for  eternity. 

The  Anglo- Vernacular  Boys'  School  in  Ran-  Schools 
goon  has  also  flourished.  It  opened  January 
11,  1904,  with  the  surprising  number  of  75 
boys,  nearly  all  Burmese  Buddhists,  and  two 
months  later  the  number  rose  to  250.  Bronson 
Hall  was  begun  in  1907.  The  government  pays 
nearly  half  the  cost  of  $14,000,  and  $5000  of  the 
remainder  have  been  given  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Dillon  Bronson,  of  Boston.  The  corner-stone 
of  this  building,  and  also  the  corner-stone  of 
the  new  Epworth  Memorial  Church  were  laid  on 
the  same  day  by  Bishops  Thoburn  and  Fitz- 
gerald, at  the  Annual  Conference  of  1907. 


228  BUEMA 

Gradually  the  work  extended  beyond  Ran- 
goon. Pegu  was  occupied  in  1893,  Thongwa  in 
1894,  and  work  for  the  Chinese  was  opened  in 
1897.  The  Bengal-Burma  Conference  was  organ- 
ized in  1893,  but  by  1901  Burma  had  become 
important  enough  to  stand  alone,  and  on  Feb- 
ruary 2  of  that  year  the  Burma  Mission  Con- 
ference was  organized  by  Bishop  Warne. 

The  Methodist  Mission  is  the  smallest  of  the 
nine  missions  of  that  Church  in  southern  Asia, 
and  changes  in  the  personnel  have  been  so  nu- 
merous that  no  one  of  the  present  force  has  been 
on  the  field  more  than  three  years.  But  the 
missionaries  are  full  of  enthusiasm  for  their 
work.  Good  progress  has  been  made,  consider- 
ingallthe  circumstances,  and  larger  development 
is  planned,  particularly  among  the  Burmans, 
upon  whom  missionary  effort  has  thus  far  made 
comparatively  little  impression,  the  large  suc- 
cess having  been  among  the  other  races  of  the 
country.  The  Mission  feels,  however,  that  it 
has  a  message  for  each  of  the  various  peoples  of 
Lower  Burma.  The  cosmopolitan  character  of 
its  work  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  at  the 

A  polyglot     Annual  Conference   in  1907,   Secretary  A.  B. 

Conference  Leonard  of  the  Board  preached  to  a  congrega- 
tion in  which  nine  languages  were  spoken.  "  It 
was  called  a  united  vernacular  service.  The 
languages  were  English,  Burmese,  Telugu, 
Tamil,  Hindustani,  Chin,  Karen,  Kanarese,  and 
Chinese.  The  sermon  was  translated  into  Bur- 
mese as  it  was  delivered.  Then  interpreters 
who  had  made  notes,  gave  it  in  Telugu,  Tamil, 


MISSIONS  229 

and  Chinese,  so  that  it  was  given  five  times  in 
all.  For  once  in  my  life  I  spoke  with  tongues  — 
the  tongues  of  other  people." 

There  are  now  nine  circuits:  Pegu-Sittang, 
Thandaung,  Thongwa-Twanta,  Syriam,  and  five 
in  Rangoon :  Burmese,  Chinese,  Tamil,  Telegu, 
and  English.  The  mission  force  consists  of  16 
missionaries,  including  three  wives  and  seven  sin- 
gle women  of  the  Woman's  Society.  There  are 
15  schools,  of  which  10  are  for  boys  and  five  for 
girls,  31  Sunday-schools,  and  a  Christian  com- 
munity of  530  full  members,  416  probationers, 
and  187  baptized  children. 

The  S.  P.  G.  work  is  older  and  larger  than 
that  of  the  other  Boards  mentioned.  The  be- 
ginnings were  at  Moulmein,  where,  in  1852, 
Chaplain  W.  T.  Humphrey  started  among  the 
British  residents  a  "  Burmese  mission  fund," 
which  his  successor,  Chaplain  C.  S.  P.  Parish, 
increased  to  rupees  11,168.  Interested  by  their 
reports,  the  Society,  in  1859,  appointed  the  Rev. 
T.  A.  Cockey  a  missionary,  and  a  few  months 
later  he  was  joined  by  the  Rev.  A.  Shears,  who 
started  a  boys'  school,  which  enrolled  100  pu- 
pils within  the  first  year. 

1860  saw  the  arrival  of  a  man  who  was  des-  j.  E.  Marks 
tined  to  have  a  large  influence  in  the  evan- 
gelization of  Burma,  Mr.  J.  E.  Marks.  He 
developed  the  boys'  school  so  rapidly  that  the 
Bishop  of  Calcutta,  who  visited  it  in  December, 
1861,  said  that  he  had  "  never  seen  in  India  a 
more  promising  school  or  one  containing  better 
elements  of  success."  In  1864,  Mr.  Marks  was 


230  BURMA 

transferred  to  Rangoon.  His  successors  carried 
on  the  work  for  a  time,  but  discouragements 
multiplied.  Chaplain  Parish  had  baptized  the 
first  Burmese  convert  in  1863,  but  additions 
were  few,  and  in  1872  it  was  thought  wise  to 
discontinue  the  station.  It  was  reopened  in 
1879  by  the  Rev.  James  A.  Colbeck,  who  found 
only  three  or  four  Burmese  Christians,  but  "a 
considerable  number  "  of  Tamils,  while  the  or- 
phanage for  Eurasians  was  still  in  existence. 
Progress  of  The  work  quickly  revived.  Within  two  years, 
the  work  forty  converts  from  Buddhism  had  been  bap- 
tized, a  large  school  established,  and  a  church 
building  begun.  "  Seldom  in  the  history  of 
missions,"  wrote  the  Bishop  of  Rangoon,  "  has 
there  been  so  rapid  and  effective  a  revival  of 
lapsed  labour."  When  Mr.  Colbeck  left  for 
Mandalay  in  1885,  the  station  was  well  estab- 
lished and  it  has  continued  to  'flourish. 

It  was  a  chaplain  also,  the  Rev.  H.  W.  Crof- 
ton,  who  in  1858  advised  the  Society  to  open 
work  in  Rangoon,  and  began  collecting  funds 
for  it  among  the  British  residents.  When  Mr. 
Marks  came  from  Moulmein  in  1864,  he  founded 
a  school  which  enrolled  220  boys  within  nine 
months  and  which  developed  into  the  famous 
St.  John's  College.  By  1892  it  had  650  stu- 
dents, of  whom  300  were  boarders.  All  together 
this  College  has  now  educated  wholly  or  in  part 
over  15,000  boys. 

St.  Mary's  School,  founded  in  1865  by  Miss 
Cooke,  is  a  less  extensive  but  very  important 
school  for  girls  under  the  care  of  the  Ladies' 


MISSIONS  231 

Association.  It  was  said  of  it  in  1869  that 
"  almost  every  race  in  Rangoon  is  represented 
in  it,"  and  the  statement  is  equally  true 
to-day. 

From  these  two  institutions  as  centres,  the 
work  was  developed  in  various  directions  among 
Burmese,  Chinese,  and  Tamils.  In  1864,  Mr. 
Marks,  with  ten  of  his  students,  visited  several 
towns  on  the  Irrawaddy  River.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  S.  P.  G.  work  north  of  Ran- 
goon. Schools  were  established  at  a  number 
of  places,  though  some  of  these  had  to  be  closed 
for  want  of  suitable  teachers  and  sufficient  su- 
pervision by  English  missionaries.  The  Rev. 
and  Mrs.  C.  H.  Chard  opened  a  boys'  school 
at  Thyet  Myo  in  1886,  and  in  1871  went 
there  to  reside,  Mrs.  Chard  founding  a  girls' 
school. 

Prome,  which  like  the  places  mentioned  above 
had  also  been  visited  by  Mr.  Marks  in  1864,  saw 
the  beginnings  of  a  fine  girls'  school  in  1871, 
under  the  care  of  the  Ladies'  Association.  St. 
Mark's  Church  was  built  in  1878,  by  which 
time  both  the  educational  and  evangelistic  work 
had  developed  promisingly. 

The  spiritual  receptivity  of  the  Karens  was  Work 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  society  by 
Chaplain  J.  Young  in  1862.  It  was  not  until 
1873,  however,  that  a  resident  missionary,  the 
Rev.  C.  Warren,  reached  Toungoo  to  begin 
work  among  them.  Before  his  lamented  death 
in  1875,  he  declared  that  the  station  might 
prove  to  "  be  the  key  to  one  of  the  most  flour- 


232  BURMA 

ishing  and  extensive  missions  in  the  world." 
September  7,  1878,  was  a  great  day,  for  at  that 
time  St.  Paul's  Church  was  consecrated,  four 
Karen  teachers  were  ordained  deacons,  and  62 
persons  were  confirmed  by  the  Bishop  of  Ran- 
goon; while  in  the  same  year  a  Normal  and  In- 
dustrial School  was  opened,  more  than  half  the 
cost  being  borne  by  the  Karens  themselves.  A 
medical  department  was  added  in  1879,  and  in 
1881  new  and  larger  school  buildings,  a  chapel, 
and  clergy  house  were  added  to  the  equipment. 
A  printing-press  greatly  extended  the  influence 
of  the  work.  A  Karen  girls'  school,  begun  in 
.  1884,  opened  a  door  of  hope  to  a  large  number 
of  ignorant  and  neglected  girls,  and  by  1888 
gave  promise  of  supplying  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  village  teachers  and  hospital  nurses. 

The  province  of  Arakan  had  also  attracted 
the  indefatigable  Mr.  Marks  during  that  mem- 
orable tour  of  1864,  and  the  good  seed  then 
sown  had  taken  root.  When  Bishop  Titcomb 
visited  Akyab,  there  were  a  church,  a  parson- 
age, a  government  school  and  hospital,  and  by 
1890  the  Bishop  could  describe  the  station  as 
"a  most  useful  and  promising  work." 
Mandalay  The  S.  P.  G.  station  at  Mandalay  is  another 
of  the  many  stations  in  Burma  which  owe  their 
origin  to  St.  John's  College.  A  Burmese  prince, 
who  had  quarrelled  with  his  father  and  taken 
refuge  in  Rangoon,  was  found  by  Mr.  Marks 
in  1863  and  given  some  Christian  books.  When 
he  returned  to  Mandalay  after  his  reconcilia- 
tion with  his  father,  he  invited  Mr.  Marks  to 


MISSIONS  233 

visit  him.  The  good  missionary  complied  with 
the  request  in  1868.  He  was  introduced  at 
once  to  the  King,  upon  whom  he  made  a  pro- 
found impression.  Influenced  partly  by  his 
high  regard  for  Mr.  Marks  and  partly  also,  as 
events  proved,  by  the  hope  of  securing  some 
political  advantages  from  the  British  govern- 
ment, the  King  gave  the  missionary  land  for 
church,  school,  and  residence,  and  placed  nine 
of  his  sons  under  Mr.  Marks's  care.  The  con- 
secration of  the  Church  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  by  the  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  July  30, 
1873,  was  a  notable  event.  Queen  Victoria, 
who  had  been  greatly  impressed  by  the  fact 
that  a  Buddhist  King  was  building  a  Christian 
church,  presented  a  baptismal  font. 

Political  complications,  however,  so  alienated  Difficulties 
the  fickle  King  that  he  withdrew  his  support 
and  warned  Dr.  Marks  "  that  it  would  not  be 
safe  to  stay  longer  in  Mandalay."  The  Viceroy 
of  India,  Lord  Northbrook,  urged  the  Bishop  of 
Calcutta  to  recall  the  missionary  at  once,  on 
the  ground  that  "  his  life  was  in  danger  "  and 
"for  fear  of  complications  between  the  two 
governments."  But  Bishop  Milman  wrote  to 
Dr.  Marks,  and  he  fairly  represented  the  at- 
titude of  mission  boards  in  general  at  such 
times :  "I  replied  that  it  was  not  our  custom  to 
recall  missionaries  from  their  posts  at  the  first 
appearance  of  danger,  that  you  had  my  full 
permission  to  retire,  if  you  thought  it  necessary 
to  do  so;  but  that  while  you  judge  it  needful 
for  your  work  to  remain  in  Mandalay,  I  should 


234  BURMA 

9       support  you  in  so  doing.     But  pray  let  me  ad- 
vise caution,  etc.*'1 

Mr.  Marks  stayed  until  1875  and  was  not 
injured.  Other  missionaries  soon  reenforced 
the  station.  The  violent  days  of  King  Thibaw, 
who  succeeded  to  the  throne  on  the  death  of 
his  father  in  1878,  compelled  the  withdrawal 
of  both  the  station  and  the  British  Residency. 
Mr.  Marks  made  several  efforts  to  get  into 
touch  with  his  former  pupil,  and  if  he  could 
have  succeeded,  some  bloody  events  might  not 
have  occurred;  but  the  Prime  Minister  barred 
Light  after  the  way.  The  King  afterward  protested  that 
he  knew  nothing  about  the  effort,  and  intimated 
that  he  would  have  been  glad  to  see  Mr. 
Marks.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  "the 
Register  of  the  Royal  School  at  Mandalay  con- 
tains a  record  of  Thibaw  from  the  time  of  his 
admission  in  1869  to  his  dethronement  in  1885." 
The  station  was  reopened  by  the  Rev.  James 
A.  Colbeck  after  the  capture  of  Mandalay  by 
the  British  in  1885.  The  schools  were  rees- 
tablished, and  within  six  months  the  number  of 
Burmese  converts  rose  to  75,  and  of  schoolboys 
to  150.  The  work  spread  to  the  surrounding 
villages,  and  on  Christmas  Eve,  1887,  Mr.  Col- 
beck  had  the  joy  of  seeing  20  men  and  11  women 
baptized  at  one  time.  During  a  visit  in  1889, 
Dr.  Marks  wrote:  "Here  in  the  golden  apart- 
ment in  which  I  had  so  often  walked  barefoot, 
and  weary  and  anxious,  waiting  for  hours  for 
the  appearance  of  one  of  my  prince-pupils  with 
1  Digest  of  S.  P.  G.  Records,  649. 


MISSIONS  235 

the  joyful  words,  '  Caw  daw  moo  thee,'  '  The 
King  calls  you,'  I  now  stood  with  my  back  to 
the  throne  and  preached  to  a  large  and  attentive 
congregation  from  the  words,  6  The  Power  of 
His  Resurrection.' ' 

Archbishop  Tate  recognized  the  worth  of  Honor  con* 
this  devoted  pioneer  missionary  by  conferring 
upon  him  in  1879  the  Lambeth  degree  of  D.D., 
and  Bishop  Titcomb  spoke  of  him  as  "  one  of 
the  most  skilful  and  successful  of  schoolmasters 
who  .  .  .  has  .  .  .  learned  to  speak  Burmese 
like  a  native,  and  is  not  only  known  throughout 
the  chief  part  of  British  Burma,  but  is  so  loved 
and  admired  by  the  Burmese  as  to  possess  in- 
fluence over  them  wherever  he  goes.  ...  In 
many  ways,  I  found  him  quite  a  power  among 
them.'" 

Work  was  begun  at  Shwebo  in  1887.  It  was 
not  long  before  sixteen  persons  were  baptized, 
one  of  them  being  a  young  princess,  first  cousin 
to  Thibaw.  She  refused  to  return  to  her  home 
in  Mandalay,  and  devoted  herself  to  evangelistic 
work  at  Shwebo.  The  word  spread  to  the  sur- 
rounding villages,  and  a  girls'  boarding  school 
was  opened,  of  which  the  Bishop  of  Rangoon 
said  in  1901,  "I  know  of  no  school  of  a  similar 
character  in  all  Burma  to  equal  it."  The  Rev. 
H.  M.  Stockings  has  labored  at  this  station 
since  1889,  and  now  has  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
a  beautiful  stone  church  and  other  buildings  and 
a  substantial  work. 

Some  work  has  also  been  done  at  Bhamo  and  the 
Andaman  and  Nicobar  Islands,  though  the  force 


236  BURMA 

has  been  small.  Native  catechists  visited  many 
places  where  the  missionaries  themselves  could 
Results  not  reside.  "  Children  are  taught  to  repeat 
over  and  over  again  in  their  own  tongue  short 
sentences  on  the  goodness,  love,  and  holiness  of 
God  and  His  mercy  and  lovingkindness  in  the 
gift  of  His  Son,  to  be  repeated  hereafter  in  many 
a  Nicobar  hut  where  the  blood  of  pigs  and  fowls 
has  been  sprinkled  for  fear  of  demons  —  sweet 
sounds  strangely  mingling  with  the  weird,  ex- 
cited, and  drunken  utterances  of  Menloonas." 

All  together,  the  S.  P.  G.  now  has  in  Burma 
thirty-two  missionaries.  The  work  is  cosmopoli- 
tanin  character,  being  conducted  among  Burmese, 
Tamils,  Chinese,  Karens,  Eurasians,  and  Euro- 
peans. In  1877,  Lower  Burma,  which  had  hith- 
erto formed  a  part  of  the  Diocese  of  Calcutta, 
was  created  a  separate  Diocese  under  the  name 
of  Rangoon,  and  its  first  bishop,  the  Rt.  Rev. 
J.  H.  Titcomb,  D.D.,  was  consecrated  in  West- 
minster Abbey,  with  imposing  ceremonies,  De- 
cember 27th  of  that  year.  His  episcopate  was 
brief,  for  ill  health  resulting  from  a  fall  com- 
pelled him  to  resign  in  1881. 

During  those  four  years  he  laid  broad  founda- 
tions and  saw  the  work  well  organized.  His 
successor,  the  Rt.  Rev.  J.  M.  Strachan,  was 
consecrated  at  Lambeth  Palace  Chapel  in  1882. 
His  experience  of  twenty-one  years  as  a  mission- 
ary in  southern  India  gave  him  a  rare  equipment 
for  his  work  in  Burma.  After  an  episcopate  of 
twenty  years,  filled  with  good  works,  failing 
health  compelled  him  to  resign  in  1902.  His 


MISSIONS  237 

death  occurred  May  2,  1906.  "Though  unable 
to  master  any  of  the  languages  of  Burma,  his 
episcopate  will  be  memorable  for  his  deep,  fer- 
vent piety,  his  kindliness  of  manner,  genial- 
ity, and  benevolent  liberality.  He  bequeathed 
Rs.50,000  for  the  diocese  and  Rs. 10,000  to  his 
old  college,  St.  Augustine's,  Canterbury."  His 
successor,  Bishop  A.  M.  Knight,  is  carrying  on  the 
work  of  his  predecessors  with  zeal  and  success. 

The  S.  P.  G.  missionaries  have  not  overlooked  Literary 
the  importance  of  translations.  The  prayer- 
book,  hymn-books,  tracts,  catechisms,  and 
school-books  have  been  translated  into  both 
Burmese  and  Karen;  while  Dr.  Marks  trans- 
lated a  part  of  the  New  Testament  in  1863, 
the  work  being  subsequently  revised  and  ex- 
tended by  a  committee  of  missionaries. 

The  Ladies'  Association,  organized  in  1866 
"for  promoting  the  education  of  females  in 
India  and  other  heathen  countries  in  connection 
with  the  missions  of  the  Society  for  the  Prop- 
agation of  the  Gospel,"  has  effectively  coop- 
erated with  the  S.  P.  G.  in  its  work  in  Burma, 
conducting  the  schools  for  girls  and  doing  a  gra- 
cious work  in  the  homes  of  the  people  along  the 
many  lines  which  womanly  tact  and  sympathy 
suggest.  We  have  already  referred  to  St. 
Mary's  School,  which  now  has  335  pupils,  of 
whom  112  are  boarders.  At  the  last  annual 
examination,  eighty-six  per  cent  passed  with 
satisfactory  grades.  The  All  Saints  Girls' 
School  at  Shwebo  has  33  boarders  and  50  day 
scholars. 


238  BURMA 

The  Ameri-        The  oldest  and  largest  missionary  work  in 

can  Baptists  Burma    is    that    of   the     American    Baptists. 

Burma  has  a  large  place  in  their  affections,  for 

it  was  their  first  and,  for  a  considerable  time, 

their  only  foreign  mission  field. 

The  beginnings  of  their  missionary  effort  are 
Adoniram  associated  with  the  splendid  name  of  Adoniram 
Judson,  their  first  missionary.  He  had  in- 
tended to  go  to  India,  but  the  bitter  opposition 
of  the  East  India  Company  compelled  the 
missionaries  to  move  from  place  to  place,  and 
finally,  to  avoid  forcible  deportation  to  Eng- 
land, to  escape  on  the  wretched  sailing  vessel, 
The  Greorgiana,  to  Rangoon,  Burma,  where 
they  arrived  July  13,  1813.  It  was  in  this 
strange  and  unplanned  way  that  the  great 
Judson  reached  his  field,  and  that  the  Baptist 
Church  began  its  work  in  Burma.  Three 
years  of  loneliness  passed  before  any  associates 
arrived. 

There  were  no  helps  in  language  study,  and 
Dr.  Judson  had  to  compile  his  own  dictionary 
and  grammar.  But  so  diligently  did  he  toil, 
that  by  1816  he  had  completed  a  translation 
of  the  gospel  of  Matthew  and  a  few  tracts. 
Other  translations  were  gradually  added  until 
Judson  had  given  the  Burmese  a  version  of  the 
Word  of  God  and  had  contributed  helps  for 
its  study  and  for  the  instruction  of  the  people 
which  have  placed  his  name  among  the  great 
constructive  bibliographers  of  history. 

The  troubled  state  of  the  country  frequently 
caused  anxiety.  When  war  with  England 


MISSIONS  239 

appeared  imminent,  the  British  traders  in  Persecution 
Rangoon  hurriedly  fled.  Dr.  Judson  was 
away  from  home  at  the  time,  and  indeed  was 
supposed  to  have  perished.  Mrs.  Judson's 
frightened  associates  urged  her  to  flee  with 
them  before  all  were  killed  ;  but  she  refused  to 
desert  her  husband.  The  result  justified  the 
courage  of  the  devoted  wife.  Storms  had 
thwarted  Judson's  plans,  he  was  unharmed, 
and  within  a  week  he  returned  in  good  health. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hough  had  become  discouraged 
and  soon  left,  but  nothing  could  dismay  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Judson,  and  they  stayed  on  alone 
till  1818,  when  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Colman  and  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Wheelock  joined  them.  Two  joyful 
events  marked  the  next  year,  1819.  In  April 
the  first  church  building  was  opened,  and  June 
19,  six  years  after  Judson's  arrival,  the  first 
Burman  was  baptized.  This  convert,  Moung  First 
Nau,  was  notable,  not  only  as  the  first-fruit  of  BaPtism 
Christianity  in  Burma,  but  as  the  first  Buddhist 
to  accept  Christ.  November  7  saw  two  more 
converts,  and  the  first  church  in  Burma  was 
organized  with  the  three  Burrnans  and  the  three 
missionary  families. 

The  prospect  was  encouraging,  when  clouds 
again  appeared.  Wheelock  sickened  and  sailed 
for  home,  only  to  commit  suicide  in  delirium 
before  his  ship  had  gotten  out  of  the  Bay  of 
Bengal.  Officials  and  priests,  who  had  at  first 
despised  the  missionaries,  became  hostile  as  the 
work  prospered.  Intimidation  quickly  emptied 
the  church.  Judson  and  Colman  went  to  Ava 


240  BURMA 

to  ask  an  audience  with  the  King.  He  refused 
to  see  them.  Mrs.  Judson's  health  gave  way 
and  she  was  compelled  to  leave  for  America. 

Loneliness  Dr.  Judson  heroically  remained  at  his  post,  a 
solitary  man  in  a  hostile  heathen  city,  till  Dr. 
Jonathan  Price  arrived  in  December,  1821. 
The  tide  of  official  favor  now  turned  again. 
The  King  heard  of  Dr.  Price's  medical  skill 
and  invited  him  to  Ava  and  offered  him  a 
house.  Judson  went  with  him.  Mrs.  Judson 
returned.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wade  arrived  and, 
with  Mr.  Hough,  who  had  come  back,  manned 
Rangoon,  which  now  had  eighteen  converts, 
while  the  Judsons  and  Price  opened  the  work 
at  Ava  under  royal  patronage. 

TheBurman  As  before,  the  day  of  prosperity  was  short. 
The  first  Burman  war  with  England  naturally 
led  the  Burmans  to  hate  all  white  men.  Hough 
and  Wade  were  thrown  into  prison.  They  were 
liberated  when  the  British  captured  Rangoon, 
May  23,  1824,  but  the  station  was  destroyed 
and  the  missionaries  removed  to  Calcutta. 

Judson  Meantime,  Judson  and  Price  had  been  arrested 
at  Ava,  June  8,  and  for  a  year  and  seven 
months  they  lay  in  a  foul  native  prison,  chained 
so  that  they  could  move  only  with  great  diffi- 
culty, breathing  hot,  fetid  air,  and  surrounded 
by  the  filth  of  native  criminals  of  the  lowest 
class.  Their  jailers  gave  them  no  food,  and  they 
would  have  starved  if  Mrs.  Judson  had  not 
brought  provisions  to  them.  When  her  money 
was  exhausted,  she  was  forced  to  beg  food  like 
a  mendicant  from  house  to  house  to  keep  her 


war 


MISSIONS  241 

husband  alive,  adopting  native  dress  to  lessen 
the  probability  of  insult.  Once  thieves  broke 
into  her  house  and  stole  everything  that  could 
be  carried  away.  Twice  she  was  dangerously  ill, 
once  by  confinement  and  once  by  spotted  fever. 

But  the  courage  of  the  heroic  pair  never  Heroism 
faltered.  "What  about  the  prospects  of  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen  ?  "  sneered  a  fellow- 
prisoner  to  Judson.  "  The  prospects  are  just 
as  bright  as  the  promises  of  God,"  calmly  re- 
plied the  missionary. 

At  last,  the  captives  were  released  through  His  Release 
the  kindly  intervention  of  the  British  General 
Campbell,  and  with  his  devoted  wife  Judson  went 
to  Amherst,  the  British  headquarters,  arriving 
July  2,  1826.  "  A  sadder  spectacle  has  seldom 
been  presented  to  living  human  beings  than  that 
which  was  offered  to  the  English  camp  by  those 
liberated  captives.  They  were  covered  with 
filthy  rags,  they  were  worn  to  skin  and  bones, 
and  their  haggard  countenances,  sunken,  wan- 
dering eyes,  told  but  too  plainly  the  frightful 
story  of  their  long  suffering,  their  incessant 
alarms,  and  their  apprehension  of  a  doom  worse 
than  death." 

As  soon  as  Judson  was  able  to  travel,  the  Brit- 
ish asked  him  to  return  to  Ava  to  act  as  inter- 
preter for  the  commissioners  who  were  negotiat- 
ing peace.  While  he  was  absent,  the  exhausted 
body  of  Mrs.  Judson  succumbed,  and  she  died, 
October  24,  1826,  with  no  companions  but  a  few 
natives.  "  So  passed  away  one  of  the  genuine 
heroines  of  earth.  She  was  the  first  woman  to 


242  BURMA 

enter  upon  Christian  labors  in  a  purely  heathen 
kingdom  in  the  East,  and  was  the  heroic  pioneer 
of  those  who  have  followed  her  as  she  followed 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

The  victory  of  the  British  enabled  Judson  to 
continue  his  work  under  more  favorable  auspices. 
He  married  twice  more.  His  second  wife,  to 
whom  he  was  married  in  1834,  was  Mrs.  Sarah 
Hall  Boardman,  the  widow  of  one  of  his  former 
associates.  She  died  in  1845,  at  St.  Helena, 
when  they  were  on  their  way  home  on  furlough. 
The  third  wife,  Emily  Chubbuck,  to  whom  he 
was  married  in  the  United  States  in  1847, 
survived  him.  It  is  interesting  to  recall  that 
all  three  of  these  wives  became  famous  in  mis- 
sionary annals  as  women  of  unusual  strength 
and  beauty  of  character  and  efficiency  of  mis- 
His  sionary  service.  The  great  Judson  himself, 

death  after  a  career  of  extraordinary  usefulness,  finally 

broke  down  in  1850,  and  left  Burma,  in  the  hope 
that  a  sea  voyage  would  restore  his  shattered 
health.  But  within  a  few  days  he  died,  April 
12, 1 850,  and  his  body  was  buried  at  sea.  Thus 
pathetically  ended  the  life  of  one  of  the  world's 
great  men,  a  master-builder  for  God.  There  is 
no  grave  over  which  a  stone  can  be  erected,  but 
redeemed  Burma  will  be  his  monument. 

The  mission  was  now  well  established. 
Reinforcements  were  added  from  time  to  time. 
New  stations  were  opened,  and  churches  and 
schools  multiplied. 

There  are  two  methods  of  developing  a  field, 
the  intensive  and  the  extensive.  The  former 


MISSIONS  243 

concentrates  as  large  a  force  as  possible  on  a  Character 
given  area  with  a  view  to  its  complete  evangeli-  of  work 
zation  within  the  shortest  practicable  period. 
The^.  other  distributes  a  force  so  as  to  occupy 
more  countries,  getting  the  Gospel  started  in 
each,  with  the  expectation  that  it  will  spread. 
Both  methods  have  their  advantages  and  dis- 
advantages, and  most  of  the  boards  have  adopted 
one  method  in  some  fields  and  the  other  in 
different  fields.  The  Baptists  in  Burma  have 
adopted  the  intensive  method.  They  have  sent 
more  money  and  more  missionaries  to  Burma 
than  to  any  other  single  region.  Their  pres- 
ent expenditure  on  this  one  mission  is  now 
1238,000  annually,  and  the  members  of  the 
Mission  number  192.  This  is  a  larger  expen- 
diture and  a  larger  force,  in  proportion  to  the 
population,  than  for  any  other  mission  of  any 
board  with  which  we  are  acquainted,  and  the 
proportion  is  increased  when  we  remember  that 
three-fourths  of  the  work  is  among  less  than  one- 
tenth  of  the  population,  the  Burmans  having 
proved  less  responsive  to  Christianity  than  the 
Karens.  Already  prepared  for  the  Gospel  by 
their  traditions,  the  first  Karen  convert,  baptized 
by  Dr.  Boardman  at  Tavoy,  May  16,  1828, 
proved  the  first-fruits  of  a  mighty  harvest. 
This  convert,  Ko  Tha  Byu,  was  a  remarkable  KO  Tha  Byu 
man.  At  the  time  of  his  conversion  he  gave 
little  promise  of  his  future  power.  He  had 
already  attained  middle  life  ;  he  had  no  educa- 
tion, and  indeed  appeared  to  have  rather  a  dull 
mind.  When  roused,  however,  his  temper  was 


244  BUEMA 

furious.  He  was,  however,  notorious  for  robbery 
and  violence,  no  less  than  thirty  murders  hav- 
ing been  ascribed  to  him.  The  Holy  Spirit 
wrought  an  extraordinary  change  in  this  man. 
He  immediately  gave  himself  wholly  to  Chris- 
tian work,  and  soon  wielded  such  an  extraordi- 
nary power  over  his  people  that  he  became 
known  as  the  Karen  Apostle. 

The  work  among  the  Karens  was  now  pushed 
vigorously  in  various  directions.  The  indefat- 
Dr.  Vinton  igable  labors  of  Dr.  J.  H.  Vinton  in  relieving 
suffering  in  the  famine  which  followed  the  war 
added  to  receptiveness  of  these  long-oppressed 
people.  Baptisms  multiplied.  By  1852,  the 
year  of  the  second  Burmese  War,  Karen  Bap- 
tist churches  had  a  membership  of  over  6000. 
Self-support  kept  pace  with  evangelization. 
Karen  evangelists  were  almost  wholly  sup- 
ported by  the  Mission,  but  the  Rev.  E.  L. 
Abbott  early  began  to  press  the  importance 
of  self-support,  and  he  was  powerfully  reen- 
forced  by  the  Rev.  E.  H.  Beecher  and  Dr. 
Vinton.  The  readiness  with  which  the  Karen 
Christians  responded  proved  the  genuineness 
of  their  faith.  By  1849,  the  Karen  Church 
at  Bassein  voluntarily  assumed  self-support. 
The  next  year  it  formed  a  Home  Mission 
Society,  and  this  was  followed  in  1854  by  a 
similar  organization  in  Rangoon.  These  socie- 
ties are  notable  in  the  history  of  missions,  as 
they  are  believed  to  be  the  first  organizations 
of  native  Christians  for  giving  the  Gospel  to 
their  own  people. 


MISSIONS  245 

The  Ko  San  Ye  Movement  was  an  interesting  KO  San  Ye 
development  of  this  spirit.  It  took  its  name 
from  an  illiterate  man  who  was  converted  in 
1890,  and  who  became  a  preacher  of  such 
spiritual  force  that  he  has  come  to  be  known 
as  the  Karen  Moody.  He  founded  an  indepen- 
dent movement  supported  by  the  Karens  them- 
selves, but  in  friendly  cooperation  with  the  mis- 
sionaries, who  watched  it  with  deep  sympathy 
and  great  rejoicing,  though  not  without  anxiety 
at  times.  Ko  San  Ye's  influence  over  his  people 
became  almost  absolute,  yet  in  spite  of  all  the 
reverence  and  even  adoration  which  were  ac- 
corded him,  he  preserved  his  humility  of  spirit.1 

A  British  official  has  gladly  testified  to  the 
change  which  the  Gospel  has  wrought  in  the 
Karens  :  — 

"  Forty  years  ago,  they  were   a   despised,  grovelling, 
timid  people,  held  in  contempt  by  the  Burmese.     At  the 
sound  of  the  gospel  message,  they  sprang  to  their  feet, 
as  a  sleeping  army  springs  to  the  bugle-call.     The  dream 
of  hundreds  of  years  was  fulfilled  ;  the  God  who  had  cast 
them  off  for  their  unfaithfulness  had  corne  back  to  them  ; 
they  felt  themselves  a  nation  once  more.     Their  progress    Success 
since  has  been  by  leaps  and  bounds,  all  from  an  impetus   among 
within  themselves,  and  with  no  direct  help  from  their   Karens 
rulers ;  and  they  bid  fair  soon  to  outstrip  their  Burmese 
conquerors  in  all  the  arts  of  peace/* 

While  the  largest  and  most  successful  work 
continued  to  be  done  among  the  Karens,  other 
races  were  not  neglected.  A  general  conven- 

1  Cf.  "  Ko  San  Ye,  the  Karen  Moody  and  His  Remarkable 
Work  in  Burma,"  a  leaflet  by  the  Rev.  S.  R.  Vinton,  pub- 
lished by  the  A.  B.  M.  U. 


246  BURMA 

tion  of  all  the  Baptist  missionaries  in  Burma 
at  Moulmein  in  April,  1853,  decided  to  open 
work  among  the  Burmans  as  opportunity 
offered,  and  the  first  Burman  association  of 
1860  at  Thonze  and  the  Burma-Baptist  Mis- 
sionary Convention  which  was  formerly  organ- 
ized at  Rangoon  in  1865  gave  earnest  attention 
to  the  spiritual  needs  of  this  numerous  people. 
By  1885,  the  year  of  the  third  war  with  Eng- 
land, missions  to  the  Burmans  were  being  con- 
ducted at  Rangoon,  Moulmein,  Tavoy,  Bassein, 
Henzada,  Toungoo,  Shwegyin,  Prorne,  Thonze, 
andZigon  ;  while  the  British  annexation  of  Upper 
Burma,  which  followed  the  war,  gave  the  mis- 
sionaries an  opportunity  which  was  immediately 
utilized  of  establishing  a  station  at  Mandalay. 
This  was  soon  followed  by  opening  of  work 
among  the  Burmans  at  Myingyan,  Sandoway, 
Meiktila,  and  Pegu  in  Lower  Burma.  Pyinmana 
was  added  in  1905. 

Difficulties  The  work  among  the  Burmans  has  proved  to 
be  much  slower  and  more  difficult  than  that 
among  the  other  races.  Inordinate  pride  and 
indolence  make  a  combination  hard  to  over- 
come. All  agree  with  the  Church  of  England 
Bishop  of  Calcutta,  who,  after  a  visit  to  Burma 
in  1870,  wrote  :  "  The  difficulties  of  Buddhism 
are  extreme.  Every  one,  lay  and  clerical, 
speaks  of  them  as  even  greater  than  those 
of  Hinduism  and  Mohammedanism."  How- 
ever, the  Baptist  Union  reported,  in  1907,  3017 
communicants  in  connection  with  its  Burman 
work.  The  missionaries  point  with  satisfac- 


MISSIONS  247 

tion  to  the  Burman  Church  at  Moulmein,  which 
has  a  membership  of  over  300,  and  which  owns 
its  excellent  property,  pays  all  its  current  ex- 
penses, and  contributes  liberally  to  Christian 
work  both  home  and  foreign. 

Work  among  the  Talains  began  as  far  back  Work 
as  the  days  of  Dr.  Judson,  who  baptized  the 
first  Talain  convert,  Ko  Myat  Kyau,  in  1828. 
The  Rev.  J.  M.  Haswell  was  the  first  mission- 
ary to  learn  the  Talain  language  and  to  trans- 
late the  New  Testament.  The  work  was 
conducted  in  connection  with  the  Burman 
Church  until  1901,  when  the  Rev.  and  Mrs. 
A.  C.  Darrow  were  set  apart  specifically  for 
the  Talain  work  with  headquarters  at  Moul- 
mein. A  church  of  24  members  was  organ- 
ized December  2,  1905,  and  the  work  has 
spread  among  many  of  the  Talain  villages 
near  Moulmein,  the  present  number  of  con- 
verts being  278. 

The  Rev.  Moses  H.  Bixby  founded  the  andShans 
work  among  the  Shans  in  1860  at  Toungoo, 
in  whose  district  there  were  about  10,000  of 
these  people  whom  the  civil  war  had  driven 
from  their  own  habitat.  The  work  was  con- 
ducted through  native  interpreters,  until  1867, 
when  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  J.  N.  Gushing  and 
Miss  Gage  arrived  and  began  to  study  the 
Shan  language.  Dr.  Gushing  made  several 
expeditions  into  Shan  territory  in  1869,  push- 
ing his  trip  as  far  as  Keng-tung.  In  1876,  work 
among  the  Shans  was  opened  in  Bhamo.  In 
1890,  stations  were  opened  at  Hsipaw  and 


248  BURMA 

Mongnai ;  in  1893,  at  Namkham;  and  in  1901, 
at  Keng-tung.  The  Baptists  now  report  6342 
communicants  among  the  Shans,  6100  of  these 
being  in  the  Keng-tung  field. 

First  The  first  convert  among  the  Chins  was  "a 

Convert  poor,  disfigured,  tattooed  woman,"  who  was  led 
to  the  Saviour  by  a  Burman  Christian  woman, 
and  was  baptized  by  Dr.  Mason  at  Tavoy  in 
1837.  It  was  not  until  1852  that  she  was 
joined  by  another  Chin  woman ;  but  by  1858 
there  were  fifteen  Chins  connected  with  the 
Church  at  Prome.  Mrs.  B.  C.  Thomas  took 
a  special  interest  in  them,  and  with  some  of 
them  for  helpers  started  a  school  and  began 
evangelistic  work  among  the  Chins  of  Henzada 
and  Sandoway.  Later,  a  station  was  opened 
at  Thayetmyo.  In  1899,  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  A. 
E.  Carson  made  the  long  and  toilsome  journey 
up  the  Chindwin  River  and  through  the  wild 
mountain  region  to  Haka.  They  found  the 
natives  "filthy  beyond  imagination,  given  to 
awful  drunken  revelries,  having  strange  and 
weird  ceremonies,  indulging  in  tribal  feuds  at 
frequent  intervals,  and  dwelling  in  darkness 
which  could  be  felt."  It  was  a  peculiarly 
lonely  and  trying  field,  but  the  missionaries 
stuck  to  their  posts,  save  when  illness  com- 
pelled them  to  leave  temporarily,  and  Haka 
has  now  become  the  centre  of  a  small  but  en- 
couraging work.  The  number  of  Chin  con- 
verts in  connection  with  the  Baptist  Mission 
is  now  776. 

The  Kachins  attracted  the  attention  of  Dr. 


MISSIONS  249 

Kincaid  as  far  back  as  1837;  but  his  effort  to  TheKachins 
reach  these  turbulent  barbarians  in  their  moun- 
tain fastnesses  ended  at  Bhamo,  where  he  was 
seized  and  forced  to  return.  Two  missionaries 
of  the  China  Inland  Mission,  in  1876,  succeeded 
in  reaching  the  Kachins  and  in  doing  some  work 
among  them  in  connection  with  their  mission 
to  the  Chinese,  and  in  1877  the  Rev.  J.  Lyon 
and  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Freiday  were  sent  out  by 
the  Baptist  Union  for  this  work.  Mr.  Lyon 
died  of  quick  consumption  within  a  short  time 
after  his  arrival ;  but  before  the  year  1878 
ended,  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  W.  H.  Roberts  had 
come  to  take  the  vacant  place.  Establishing 
their  residence  at  Bhamo,  Mr.  Roberts  made 
many  itinerating  journeys  into  the  hills,  and 
his  account  of  them  forms  an  interesting  leaf- 
let.1 The  experiences  of  the  missionaries  among 
the  Kachins  abounded  in  incidents  of  hardship, 
privation,  and  sorrow.  The  health  of  both  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Roberts  was  wrecked,  the  latter  dy- 
ing, and  the  former  being  obliged  to  return  to 
America,  though  he  was  able  about  a  year  later 
to  go  back  to  his  work.  Undismayed,  suc- 
cessors took  their  places.  In  1893,  the  Rev. 
George  J.  Geis  started  a  station  at  Myitkyina, 
which  has  now  become  well  equipped.  There 
are  schools  for  the  Kachins  at  Bhamo,  in  two  of 
the  Christian  villages  and  in  six  of  the  moun- 
tain villages.  "Mr.  Roberts,  who  through  dark- 
ness and  difficulty  as  well  as  in  the  brighter 

lu  Pioneering  among  the  Kachins,"  published  by  the 
A.  B.  M.  U. 


250  BUEMA 

days  of  its  history,  has  stood  by  the  Kachin 
Mission,  feels  profoundly  grateful  for  what  has 
been  wrought  in  the  lives  of  these  people." 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  Telugus  and 
Tamils  who  came  to  Burma  from  India.  The 
Rev.  and  Mrs.  W.  F.  Armstrong  were  set 
apart  for  work  among  them  in  1894.  Ran- 
goon, Moulmein,  Bassein,  and  Mandalay  are 
the  chief  centres  of  this  work.  There  are  two 
large  schools,  one  at  Rangoon  and  one  at  Moul- 
mein, which  have  taught  all  together  about  5000 
pupils  since  their  establishment. 

English  Baptist   work   among   the    English-speaking 

Work  people   of   Burma,  who  include   a  very  large 

number  of  Eurasians,  is  conducted  at  Ran- 
goon, Moulmein,  and  Mandalay.  There  are 
good  churches  in  each  of  these  cities,  Immanuel 
Baptist  Church  in  Rangoon  being  particularly 
large  and  well  organized.  Many  Eurasian  chil- 
dren attend  the  Rangoon  Baptist  College,  and 
in  Moulmein  there  is  a  high  school  for  Eu- 
rasians in  charge  of  three  devoted  women. 
Comparatively  little  has  been  done  among  the 
Chinese  in  Burma,  but  there  is  a  Chinese  Bap- 
tist congregation  in  Rangoon  under  the  care  of 
a  native  pastor. 

All  together,  the  Baptist  Missionary  Union 
reports  (1907)  29  stations,  192  foreign  mis- 
sionaries, of  whom  79  are  men,  1909  native 
workers,  58,642  communicants,  843  organized 
churches,  of  which  679  are  wholly  self-support- 
ing, and  691  schools  of  various  grades,  of  which 
548  are  self-supporting.  The  number  of  self- 


MISSIONS  251 

supporting  churches  and  schools  eloquently 
testifies  to  the  genuineness  of  the  native  Chris- 
tians as  well  as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  mission- 
aries. In  one  district  among  the  Karens,  the 
13,000  Christians  raised  last  year  73,823  rupees  Results 
for  the  full  cost  of  their  pastors,  evangelists, 
teachers,  and  students,  gave  6450  rupees  to 
their  home  missionary  society,  and  supported 
two  workers  among  the  Kachins,  and  within 
recent  years  they  have  raised  100,000  rupees 
to  endow  their  church. 

The  Baptist  Union  and  its  missionaries  early 
realized  that  their  work  would  require  not  only 
a  large  number  of  ordinary  schools,  but  some 
institutions  of  higher  grade  for  the  training 
of  native  pastors  and  helpers  and  teachers.  A 
Burman  Theological  Seminary  was  therefore  School 
founded  a,t  Moulmein  in  1838  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Work 
E.  A.  Stevens.  The  Seminary  was  moved  to 
Rangoon  in  1862,  and  its  scope  widened  so  as  to 
include  students  of  other  races.  It  was  soon 
seen  that  the  Karen  work  would  require 
such  an  exceptionally  large  number  of  native 
preachers  as  to  justify  a  separate  theological 
seminary  for  them,  and  one  was  established  at 
Moulmein  in  1845  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  G.  Bin- 
ney.  It  was  afterwards  found,  however,  that 
Rangoon  was  a  better  centre  for  this  institu- 
tion as  well  as  for  the  Burman  Seminary,  and  so  it 
also  was  removed  to  the  metropolis.  These  theo- 
logical seminaries  have  come  to  be  indispen- 
sable parts  of  the  Baptist  movement  in  Burma. 
They  are  beautifully  located  at  Insein,  a  suburb 


252  BURMA 

of  Rangoon.  They  have  good  faculties  both 
foreign  and  native,  and  a  curriculum  which 
gives  an  admirable  training  to  the  young  men 
who  are  to  go  out  as  preachers  of  Christ  among 
their  own  people.  The  Burman  Seminary  now 
reports  31  students,  and  the  Karen,  138. 
College  The  year  1872  saw  the  beginnings,  also  by 

Dr.  Binney,  of  Rangoon  Baptist  College,  an 
institution  which  has  become  a  power  for  Chris- 
tian education.  Under  the  Rev.  C.  H.  Car- 
penter, who  became  president  in  1873,  an  ex- 
cellent property  was  secured.  His  successors 
in  the  presidency  extended  the  work  and  equip- 
ment, until  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  N.  Gushing,  who 
presided  over  the  institution  from  1892  until 
his  death  in  1905,  developed  the  curriculum 
from  that  of  a  high  school  to  that  of  a  full  col- 
lege in  affiliation  with  Calcutta  University. 
The  College  now  reports  1060  students,  and  its 
graduates  are  to  be  found  in  positions  of  leader- 
ship all  over  Lower  Burma.  The  new  building, 
"  Gushing  Hall,"  now  about  completed,  is  to 
cost  160,000,  of  which  the  government  furnishes 
one-half. 

Medical  The  Baptist  Union  has  not  attempted  medical 

Work  work  in  Lower  Burma,  as  there  are  civil  hospitals 

and  the  usual  staff  of  physicians  and  surgeons 
in  connection  with  the  government  service  ; 
but  medical  missionaries  have  been  appointed 
to  the  more  isolated  stations  in  the  north.  The 
Union  now  reports  thirteen  physicians,  three  hos- 
pitals, and  seven  dispensaries,  which  all  together 
treated  last  year  13,697  patients. 


MISSIONS  253 

In  nearly  all  the  work  of  the  Baptists  in  Burma, 
the  Woman's  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
has  effectively  cooperated.  The  Society  sent  out 
the  first  medical  missionary  to  Burma,  Miss  Ellen 
E.  Mitchell,  M.D.,  who,  after  twenty-one  years 
of  devoted  service,  died  at  Moulmein  in  1901. 
We  have  already  referred  to  the  heroic  and 
self-sacrificing  labors  of  the  first  Mrs.  Judson, 
and  much  might  be  said  of  many  other  mis- 
sionary wives  and  of  the  considerable  number  of 
single  women  who  have  labored  in  Burma,  many 
of  whom  have  been  supported  by  the  Woman's 
Society. 

An  interesting  pamphlet  entitled  "  Retro- 
spect," published  by  the  Woman's  Society,  de- 
scribes 23  boarding  and  high  schools  in  Burma 
which  have  been  either  founded  or  are  maintained 
by  the  Society,  and  this  list  does  not  include  a 
considerable  number  of  village  schools.  The 
Kemendine  School  in  a  suburb  of  Rangoon,  three  Woman's 
and  a  half  miles  from  the  city,  has  a  fine  campus  Work 
of  eight  acres  with  two  large  school  buildings 
and  a  residence  for  the  missionary  teachers,  be- 
sides the  usual  outbuildings.  The  Pegu  High 
School,  also  at  Rangoon,  was  established  by  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Vinton  during  the  revival  in  the  fifties, 
and  the  present  building  is  appropriately  called 
the  Vinton  Memorial.  The  Burman  Woman's 
Bible  School  at  Rangoon,  founded  in  1893  by 
Miss  Ranney  and  Miss  Phinney,  has  a  good 
building  at  Insein,  and  enrolls  several  students 
from  other  races  as  well  as  the  Burman.  The 
Karen  Woman's  Bible  School,  founded  at  Thaton 


254  BURMA 

by  Miss  E.  Lawrence  and  moved  to  Rangoon  in 
1897,  is  also  doing  excellent  work.  At  Moul- 
mein  one  finds  the  Morton  Lane  Boarding  School 
for  Burmese  girls,  the  Burmese  Boys'  School, 
and  the  English  Girls'  High  School.  Both  at 
Rangoon  and  Moulmein,  the  visitor  should  not 
fail  to  see  the  kindergartens  which  are  conducted 
by  the  missionaries  of  the  Woman's  Society, 
while  many  of  the  other  Baptist  stations  in 
Burma  have  schools  which  are  doing  an  excel- 
lent work,  the  Burman  Boys'  High  School  at 
Mandalay  reporting  300  pupils.  The  Baptist 
Union  testifies  that  the  women  "have  now  so 
extended  their  sphere  of  influence  that  a  large 
part  of  the  school  work  of  the  Missionary  Union 
has  passed  to  their  care,  and  their  many  repre- 
sentatives are  rendering  a  service,  than  which 
none  is  acknowledged  to  be  more  strongly  evan- 
gelistic, or  more  influential  in  the  making  of  the 
character  of  the  people  of  Burma.  Some  of 
these  women  have  been  called  upon  at  times  to 
stand  alone  in  stations  where  there  were  no  men, 
and  in  such  trying  situations  have  rendered  a  ser- 
vice to  the  Union  of  unquestioned  importance, 
their  wisdom  and  perseverance  having  been  ex- 
ceeded only  by  their  patience  in  assuming  re- 
sponsibilities far  heavier  than  they  should  ever 
have  been  called  upon  to  bear." 

Printing-  The  printing-press  came  to  Burma  with  Felix 

press  Carey,  and  after  many  vicissitudes  developed  into 

the  great  institution  now  known  as  the  Ameri- 
can Baptist  Mission  Press  of  Rangoon.  It  has 
published  the  Bible  complete  in  Judson's  trans- 


MISSIONS  255 

lation  of  Burman,  1840,  Mason's  Sgaw-Karen, 
1853,  Brayton's  Pwo-Karen,  1883,  and  Cushing's 
Shan,  1891,  besides  several  editions  of  the  New 
Testament  and  innumerable  portions  and  parts 
of  the  Bible  in  four  other  dialects.  Many 
books  and  countless  tracts  have  been  issued, 
and  two  religious  papers  of  considerable  cir- 
culation are  regularly  printed,  The  Religious 
Herald  in  Burma,  founded  in  1842,  and  The 
Morning  Star  in  Karen,  founded  in  1843. 

With  the  efficient  government,  security  for  Prospects 
life  and  property,  good  roads,  railways,  and 
telegraphs,  which  British  rule  brings,  the  open- 
ness of  the  whole  country  to  missionary  work, 
the  broad  and  deep  foundations  that  have  been 
laid  by  the  devoted  missionaries  of  pioneer 
days,  the  well-established  churches  and  institu- 
tions, and  a  large  and  rapidly  growing  native 
church,  the  outlook  for  the  evangelization  of 
Burma  is  most  encouraging.  Serious  obstacles 
still  exist,  but  if  the  faith  and  courage  of  the 
immortal  Judsons  animate  their  successors  of 
to-day,  these  obstacles  will  be  overcome,  and  all 
Burma  shall  know  the  Lord. 


KOREA 


BY 

THE  REV.  ARTHUR  JUDSON  BROWN,  D.D. 


CHAPTER   VII 
KOREA 

THE   COUNTRY 

KOREA  projects  from  the  northeastern  part  Area 
of  Asia  as  Florida  projects  from  the  southern 
part  of  the  United  States,  though  Korea  is 
larger  than  Florida,  estimates  of  its  area  vary- 
ing from  82,000  to  92,000  square  miles.  It  is 
therefore  nearly  as  large  as  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania  combined.  It  is  660  miles  long, 
150  wide,  and  has  a  coast-line  1740  miles  in 
extent. 

The  eastern  side  is  rather  precipitous  and  has  Coast 
a  small  tide,  only  about  two  feet.  The  west 
coast  slopes  more  gradually  and  the  tide  some- 
times reaches  thirty-eight  feet.  There  are  sev- 
eral harbors,  chief  among  which  are  Wonsan 
(sometimes  spelled  Gensan),  on  the  northeast 
coast,  Masampo  and  Fusan  at  the  southern  end 
of  the  peninsula,  and  Chemulpo,  Chinampo,  and 
Yong-ampo  on  the  west  coast.  Many  islands 
border  the  southwest  coast,  and  the  channel  be- 
tween them  is  so  tortuous  and  so  inadequately 
charted  that  navigation  in  bad  weather  is  haz- 
ardous. 

Lying  between  the  thirty-fourth  and  forty-  Mountains 

third  parallels,  the  climate  is  that  of  the  north 

temperate  zone.     A  range  of  mountains  runs 

irregularly  the  entire  length  of  the  peninsula, 

259 


260  KOREA 

with  outflanking  ridges  of  varying  height. 
The  range  is  not  lofty,  few  peaks  reaching  an 
altitude  of  5000  feet.  In  the  north,  however, 
Mt.  Paik-to-san  (Ever  White  Head  Peak) 
attains  8000  feet.  It  is,  therefore,  a  famous 
mountain  in  Korea,  and  is  regarded  as  sa- 
cred. It  is  an  extinct  volcano,  and  the  crater 
is  filled  with  water,  forming  a  lake  of  great 
beauty  and  of  unknown  depth.  Celebrated 
also  are  the  Diamond  Mountains  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Kang-wen.1 

The  general  surface  of  the  country  is  much 
diversified.  Korea  is  a  land  of  mountains  and 
valleys  and  streams,  though  there  are  few 
important  rivers.  The  Noctong  River  in  the 
south,  the  Han  River  in  the  centre,  the  Ta- 
tong  in  the  north,  the  Tumen  on  the  north- 
eastern frontier,  and  the  Yalu  on  the  north- 
western are  the  chief  streams.  The  soil  of  the 
valleys  is  rich.  Rice  and  beans,  the  staple  food 
of  the  Koreans,  are  grown  almost  everywhere. 
Soil  and  The  thrift  of  the  Chinese  or  Japanese  or  the  press- 
Scenery  ure  Of  a  larger  population  could  bring  under 
cultivation  many  large  areas  which  now  lie 
idle,  for  of  the  7,000,000  acres  that  could  easily 
be  tilled,  only  3,185,000  are  under  cultivation. 

North  of  Pyeng  Yang,  the  scenery  becomes 
even  more  striking  than  it  is  in  the  central  and 
southern  parts  of  the  country.  The  mountains 
are  higher  and  the  valleys  narrower.  Some 
of  the  villages  are  of  Alpine  picturesqueness. 

1  Cf.  description  by  Mrs.  Isabella  Bird  Bishop  in  "  Korea 
and  Her  Neighbors." 


THE  PEOPLE  261 

Kwallondong,  for  example,  nestles  in  a  gorge 
that  would  make  it  famous  if  it  were  more 
accessible,  while  Kwen  Myen  lies  cosily  in  one 
of  the  most  lovely  valleys  in  the  world. 

THE  PEOPLE 

The  population  is  estimated  to  be  12,000,000.  People 
The  most  prominent  cities  are :  Seoul,  the 
capital,  on  the  Han  River,  26  miles  from  the 
coast,  population  250,000  (all  figures  are  esti- 
mates) ;  Song-do,  50  miles  northwest  of  Seoul, 
the  capital  in  the  preceding  dynasty,  popula- 
tion over  60,000  ;  Pyeng  Yang,  on  the  Ta-tong 
River,  50  miles  from  the  sea,  an  ancient 
capital  of  historic  fame,  next  to  Seoul  in 
present  importance,  population  about  60,000; 
Chemulpo,  the  western  gateway  and  port  of 
Seoul,  population  15,000 ;  Fusan,  the  southern 
gateway,  population  25,000 ;  Taiku,  100  miles 
north  of  Fusan,  population  50,000 ;  Won-san, 
the  northeastern  gateway,  with  a  particularly 
fine  harbor,  population  15,000 ;  Eui-ju,  the 
northwestern  gateway,  on  the  Yalu  River, 
population  25,000.  Small  cities  and  market 
towns  with  populations  ranging  from  5000  to 
12,000  each  are  numerous,  and  villages  are 
innumerable,  the  rural  population  not  being 
scattered  on  farms  as  in  England  and  America, 
but  being  segregated  in  hamlets  for  protection 
and  companionship. 

The  language  differs  from  both  the  Japanese 
and  Chinese,  though  the  written  characters 
chiefly  used  by  the  higher  classes  are  Chinese. 


262  KOREA 

Language  A  different  dialect  is  used  by  the  common  peo- 
ple. Formerly,  this  was  held  in  contempt  and 
was  never  used  in  writing.  The  missionaries 
have  done  much  to  give  new  dignity  to  this 
native  dialect.  They  have  translated  the  New 
Testament  and  many  books,  prepared  gram- 
mars and  dictionaries,  and  are  fast  rehabilitat- 
ing the  language  in  some  such  way  as  Luther's 
translation  of  the  Bible  exalted  the  native  Ger- 
man and  as  Wiclif's  translation  inaugurated 
a  new  era  for  English.  Official  papers  are 
now  usually  published  in  Chinese,  Korean,  and 
Japanese. 

Race  The  people  of  Korea  are  often  characterized 

as  weak.  It  must  be  admitted  that  they  lack 
the  energy  and  ambition  of  the  Japanese  and 
the  industry  and  persistence  of  the  Chinese. 
But  it  should  be  remembered  that  for  many 
centuries  their  position  has  been  unfavorable 
to  the  development  of  strength  and  character. 
A  comparatively  small  nation,  hemmed  in  be- 
tween warlike  Japan  and  mighty  China,  the 
Land  of  the  Morning  Calm  was  doomed  from 
the  outset  to  be  a  tributary  state.  The  Kore- 
ans have  become  so  accustomed  to  being  pulled 
and  hauled  by  contending  masters,  have  been 
treated  so  unjustly  by  those  who  dominated 
them  and  so  ground  down  into  utter  poverty 
by  the  greed  and  cruelty  of  their  own  magis- 
trates, that  they  have  come  to  accept  subjuga- 
tion and  poverty  as  the  natural  concomitants 
of  their  life.  It  is  not  suprising,  therefore,  that 
the  superior  power  of  neighboring  nations  has 


THE  PEOPLE  263 

taught  the  Koreans  dependence,  that  the  exac- 
tions of  tax-gatherers  have  fostered  deceit,  and 
that  the  certainty  that  the  results  of  toil  could 
not  be  enjoyed  has  begotten  indolence. 

The  general  poverty  appears  in  the  architec-  Poverty 
ture.  A  country  merchant  in  America  lives  in 
a  better  house  than  the  Emperor  of  Korea, 
while  hundreds  of  stables  at  home  are  more 
attractive  than  the  official  residence  of  a  pro- 
vincial governor.  The  buildings  are  not  only 
plain,  but  usually  dilapidated.  It  seldom  oc- 
curs to  a  Korean  to  make  repairs,  and  so  on 
every  side  and  even  in  palaces  and  temples 
one  sees  crumbling  walls  and  dirty  court- 
yards. 

The  most  trying  characteristic  of  the  people  Filthiness 
to  a  foreigner  is  their  filthiness.  The  higher 
classes  and  the  mission  converts  are  clean,  but 
the  common  people  are  as  a  whole  unspeakably 
dirty.  Garbage  and  offal  are  thrown  on  the 
ground  and  left  to  rot  under  the  hot  sun. 
Open  ditches  in  the  principal  streets  become 
choked  with  filth.  Beside  the  average  house 
is  a  tiny  open  trench  into  which  all  slops  are 
cast.  The  trench  ends  a  few  feet  from  the 
house,  and  the  filth  seeps  into  the  soil,  often 
near  the  wells  from  which  the  drinking  water 
is  drawn.  In  the  hot,  wet  months  of  July  and 
August,  a  Korean  city  becomes  a  steaming  cess- 
pool. Accordingly,  dysentery,  cholera,  typhus 
and  typhoid  fevers,  and  kindred  diseases  rage 
at  frequent  intervals.  The  Japanese  are  ener- 
getically grappling  with  the  problem  of  sani- 


264  KOREA 

tation,  and  have  made  marked  improvements, 
particularly  in  the  capital.  But  it  will  be  a 
long  time  before  the  peasant  Korean  will  be 
decently  clean,  except  under  compulsion. 
Position  of  The  position  of  woman  is,  of  course,  distinctly 
Women  Asiatic.  Her  marriage  is  arranged  without 
consulting  her.  There  is  no  family  life,  as  we 
understand  the  term.  "  A  Korean  regards  his 
wife  as  far  beneath  him.  He  rarely  consults 
her  on  anything  serious,  and  though  living 
under  the  same  roof,  one  may  say  that  hus- 
band and  wife  are  widely  separated.  The 
female  apartments  among  the  higher  classes 
resemble,  in  most  respects,  the  zenanas  of 
India."  "What  is  woman  in  Korea!"  bit- 
terly exclaimed  a  woman  to  a  missionary  who 
was  urging  her  to  send  her  daughter  to  school. 
"After  the  dogs  and  pigs  were  made,  there 
was  nothing  left  to  be  done,  so  woman  was 
created  —  lowest  of  the  low !  " 

Dress  The   dress   of   the    Korean  is  so  distinctive 

that  there  is  no  possibility  of  mistaking  him, 
no  matter  how  many  other  nationalities  may 
be  represented  about  him.  His  garments  are 
white  and  his  hat  of  black  thread  or  horsehair 
has  a  broad  brim,  a  small  round  crown,  and  is 
tied  under  his  chin.  Not  only  does  his  dress 
indicate  his  nationality,  but  it  plainly  tells  a 
number  of  interesting  things  about  him.  If 
the  hat  is  white,  he  is  betrothed.  If  a  thin 
white  cloth  covers  his  nose  and  mouth,  he  is 
in  mourning.  If  he  wears  his  hair  done  up  in 
a  topknot,  he  is  married. 


THE  PEOPLE  265 

This  topknot  is  one  of  the  most  curious  cus-  Topknot 
toms  in  Korea.  It  is  as  characteristic  as  the 
queue  in  China,  and  more  significant,  for  it 
originated,  not  as  a  badge  of  submission  to  a 
conqueror,  but  as  an  expression  of  a  people's 
most  ancient  and  venerated  beliefs. 

When,  after  their  murder  of  the  Queen,  the 
Japanese  directed  that  the  topknot  should  be 
cut  off,  excitement  and  consternation  were 
unparalleled.  The  Koreans  submitted  with 
little  or  no  protest  to  many  other  changes 
that  would  have  aroused  an  Anglo-Saxon  peo- 
ple ;  but  when  their  topknot  was  touched,  the 
anger  of  this  peaceable  race  flamed  up.  The 
capital  began  to  suffer  for  want  of  supplies. 
Business  was  paralyzed.  The  Japanese  regime 
was  brief  and  the  order  was  soon  rescinded. 
Now  that  the  Japanese  are  again  in  control, 
they  are  renewing  their  efforts  to  abolish  the 
topknot.  No  order  has  been  issued,  but  the 
new  Emperor,  the  Crown  Prince,  and  several 
members  of  the  court  were  induced  to  cut  off 
their  topknots  at  the  time  of  the  coronation, 
August  27,  1907  ;  and  under  royal  example 
and  the  known  wishes  of  their  rulers,  the  days 
of  this  notable  native  custom  appear  to  be  pass- 
ing with  the  bound  feet  of  Chinese  women. 

Physically,  the  average  Korean  is  strong  and  Physique 
well  developed.  His  personal  courage  is  good, 
as  he  has  repeatedly  shown  in  his  former  wars 
with  the  Japanese ;  though  his  lack  of  organi- 
zation and  competent  leadership  and  his  igno- 
rance of  the  weapons  and  methods  of  modern 


266  KOREA 

warfare  make  him  helpless  before  the  Japanese 
of  to-day.  Intellectually,  he  is  quite  the  equal 
of  either  the  Japanese  or  the  Chinese.  He 
develops  quickly  under  education.  By  com- 
mon consent,  the  best  address  at  the  Inter- 
national Student  Federation  in  1906  in  Tokyo, 
where  all  the  leading  races  of  Asia  were  repre- 
sented, was  made  by  a  Korean. 

Friendliness  The  people  are  naturally  kindly  and  peace- 
able. We  had  some  opportunity  to  test  their 
feeling,  for  we  made  a  long  journey  through 
the  interior  in  chairs,  on  ponies,  and  afoot. 
We  ate  in  native  huts  and  slept  in  native  inns, 
with  our  luggage  and  supplies  piled  in  the  open 
courtyard.  The  people  manifested  great  curi- 
osity, following  us  in  crowds.  They  had  seen 
a  few  foreign  men,  but  a  white  woman  was 
rare,  and  aroused  as  much  excitement  as  a 
circus  in  an  American  town.  The  Korean 
women  thronged  about  Mrs.  Brown,  feeling 
of  her  shoes  and  dress,  trying  on  her  hat,  ask- 
ing her  to  undo  her  hair,  endeavoring  to  take 
off  her  wedding  ring,  and  rubbing  her  cheek 
to  see  whether  her  complexion  would  come  off, 
all  the  while  excitedly  jabbering  and  laughing 
Our  at  so  strange  an  object.  Privacy  was  impos- 

experience  gibi^  and  she  was  obliged  not  only  to  eat  but 
to  retire  at  night  and  to  dress  in  the  morning 
with  the  inquisitive  eyes  of  Korean  women  at 
every  chink.  If  there  were  none,  the  oiled 
paper  on  the  windows  was  broken  and  the 
space  quickly  filled  with  the  tousled  heads  of 
the  curious.  This,  of  course,  is  the  experience 


THE  PEOPLE  267 

of  every  woman  missionary  who  goes  among 
the  villages. 

But  not  once  was  the  slightest  insolence 
shown,  and  not  a  penny's  worth  was  stolen. 
Everywhere  we  were  treated  with  a  kindly  hos- 
pitality which  quite  won  our  hearts.  There 
were  indeed  a  few  places  where  it  was  difficult 
to  purchase  supplies;  but  as  a  rule  the  best 
that  a  village  afforded  was  gladly  placed  at  our 
disposal,  and  in  several  places  the  people  re- 
fused to  receive  any  compensation.  The  inva- 
riable salutation  was  a  smiling  inquiry :  "  Have 
you  come  in  peace?  "  And  when  we  left,  the 
people  would  escort  us  some  distance  on  our 
way,  and  then  politely  bid  us  good-by  with 
the  words :  "  May  you  go  in  the  peace  of  God !  " 
It  need  hardly  be  said  that  these  were  usually 
Christians  ;  but  we  saw  multitudes  who  were 
not,  and  while  the  heathen  were  more  unkempt 
than  the  Christians,  they,  too,  were  invariably 
kind.  He  must  be  a  hard-hearted  man  who 
could  not  love  such  a  people  and  long  to  help 
them  to  higher  levels  of  thought  and  life. 
With  a  good  government,  a  fair  chance,  and  a 
Christian  basis  of  morals,  the  Koreans  would 
develop  into  a  fine  race. 

Among  a  dozen  millions  of  people  there  are 
of  course  some  turbulent  elements,  while  the 
most  patient  will  sometimes  turn  upon  their 
oppressors.  The  Tong-haks  represent  both 
classes.  Some  of  the  members  of  this  famous 
society  are  mere  robbers;  but  many  are  men 
who  have  been  goaded  to  desperation  by  wrong 


268 


KOREA 


Choi  Chei 
Ou 


Revolutions  and  oppression.  Revolutionary  outbreaks  have 
often  occurred,  and  occasionally  they  have 
reached  formidable  proportions,  as  in  the  great 
uprising  of  1894.  There  is  much  in  the  Tong- 
hak  movement  to  stir  the  interest  of  the  student. 
It  began,  like  the  Tai-ping  Rebellion  in  China, 
as  a  religious  reformation.  Its  founder,  Choi 
Chei  Ou,  who  had  seen  something  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries  and  had  vaguely  grasped 
some  of  their  teachings,  alleged  that  he  had  a 
vision  in  1859,  at  his  home  in  Kyeng  Chu,  in 
southern  Korea.  He  forthwith  proclaimed  a 
new  faith  which  was  to  include  the  best  ele- 
ments of  Confucianism,  Buddhism,  Taoism,  and 
Romanism,  and  which  he  called  Tong-hak  or 
Eastern  Learning.  Followers  multiplied.  Per- 
secution naturally  followed.  Loyal  at  first  to 
the  dynasty,  the  hostility  of  the  government 
and  the  sorrows  of  the  people  developed  the 
Tong-haks,  like  the  Tai-pings  in  China,  into 
revolutionaries.  With  all  their  errors,  the 
Tong-haks  represent  the  blind  but  earnest 
groping  of  Korea  after  better  things.  Since 
the  coming  of  the  Japanese,  this  element  of  the 
population  has  received  large  accessions  from 
patriotic  Koreans  who  resent  the  domination  of 
their  new  rulers. 

RELIGION 

Religion  The  traveller  who  comes  to  Korea  from  either 

Japan  or  China  will  be  struck  with  the  absence 
of  those  outward  manifestations  of  religious 
observance  which  are  so  numerous  in  other 


EELIGION  269 

lands.  "  Indeed  the  visitor  at  first  fails  to  see 
any  visible  signs  of  religious  life  among  the 
people,  and  he  is  apt  to  jump  to  the  conclusion 
that  here  is  a  people  without  a  religion,  a  con- 
clusion both  hasty  and  unwarranted."  A  closer 
study  will  show  that  while  there  is  no  out- 
wardly established  religion  with  its  temples 
and  prescribed  observances,  there  are  religious 
customs  which  have  great  power  over  the  lives 
of  the  people.  Indeed  Korea  may  be  said  to 
have  three  religions. 

Buddhism  has  only  a  nominal  hold.  It  en-  Buddhism 
tered  Korea  from  China  as  far  back  as  371  A.D., 
and  at  one  time  attained  great  influence.  But, 
like  the  Jesuits  in  some  European  countries, 
fondness  for  political  intrigue  resulted  in  over- 
throw. The  priests  made  themselves  so  much 
disliked  and  feared  that  for  more  than  500 
years  they  were  forbidden  to  enter  the  capital. 
Not  till  a  short  time  ago  was  this  prohibition 
repealed.  To-day  the  priests  can  often  be  seen 
outside  the  walls,  but  they  appear  to  have  but 
a  small  following,  and  they  look  dejected  and 
dirty. 

Confucianism  is  also  a  religion  in  Korea,  Confu- 
though,  as  in  China,  it  is  really  not  a  religion 
in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term.  Ancestral  wor- 
ship prevails  very  generally,  and  it  may,  there- 
fore, be  classed  among  the  religions  of  the 
country.  A  well-to-do  Korean  usually  has  a 
small  separate  building  behind  his  house  where 
he  keeps  his  ancestral  tablets. 

Shamanism  is  the  dominant  faith,  or  rather 


270 


KOREA 


Shamanism  the  dominant  superstition.  It  peoples  air, 
earth,  and  water  with  evil  spirits,  and  leads 
the  terrified  people  to  adopt  all  sorts  of  expedi- 
ents to  propitiate  or  outwit  the  angry  demons. 
Near  almost  every  house  may  be  found  a  small 
stake  driven  into  the  ground,  the  exposed  part 
being  wrapped  with  straw  and  topped  with  a 
bit  of  white  paper,  on  which  some  words  of 
alleged  mystical  power  have  been  inscribed. 
The  object  of  this  stake  is  to  keep  the  god  of 
the  site  in  good  humor. 

Many  a  time,  as  we  travelled  in  the  interior, 
we  saw  by  the  wayside  a  tree  about  whose 
trunk  were  piles  of  stones  and  from  whose 
branches  were  fluttering  bits  of  colored  rags. 
We  learned  on  inquiring  that  the  poor  people 
imagined  that  an  evil  spirit  inhabited  the  tree. 
The  spirit  was,  however,  believed  to  be  curious 
as  well  as  malignant,  and  so  to  divert  his  atten- 
tion the  traveller  would  toss  a  stone  about  the 
base  of  the  tree,  or  tear  a  strip  from  his  garment 
and  fasten  it  to  a  limb;  and  while  the  curious 
demon  was  examining  the  stone  or  rag,  the 
frightened  Korean  would  dodge  past.  Hill- 
Shrines  tops  have  shrines, —  small,  dilapidated  buildings 
containing  images  or  paper  pictures  of  mythi- 
cal beings.  The  ridge-poles  of  public  buildings 
and  of  city  gates  are  usually  adorned  with  queer, 
misshapen  figures  which  are  believed  to  be  a 
protection  to  the  occupants  of  the  building  or 
the  dwellers  in  the  city. 

Almost  every  object  in  nature  is  supposed  to 
be  animated  by  a  demon  and  almost  every  sound 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  JAPANESE     271 

in  the  air  to  be  caused  by  one.  Pain  means  that 
a  demon  has  gotten  into  the  body,  and  the  method 
of  treatment  is  to  kill  the  demon  that  is  causing 
it.  Officers  of  exalted  rank  call  in  blind  sorcer-  Sorcery 
ers  to  perform  magical  ceremonies  over  a  sick 
or  injured  member  of  the  family,  or  to  select  a 
lucky  day  for  the  marriage  of  a  son  or  a  daugh- 
ter. No  right-minded  person  will  ridicule  this 
superstition.  Rather  will  he  be  deeply  moved 
by  its  pathos  and  often  by  its  tragedy. 

THE   EMPEROR,   THE  GOVERNMENT,   AND  THE 
JAPANESE 

The  Emperor  boasts  a  lineage  which  many  a  Government 
more  powerful  monarch  night  envy,  for  the  Yi 
dynasty,  to  which  he  belongs,  ascended  the 
throne  in  1392.  He  is  the  thirty-first  in  direct 
line  of  succession  from  the  founder  of  the  dy- 
nasty, and  ascended  the  throne  in  1907.  The 
circumstances  of  his  accession  were  inglorious. 

The  limits  of  this  little  volume  do  not  permit  Recent  War 
a  discussion  of  the  Russo-Japanese  War  in  its 
relation  to  Korea.  Suffice  it  here  that  Korea's 
weakness  and  its  position  in  the  Far  East  ren- 
dered its  subjugation  by  some  foreign  power  in- 
evitable. The  only  question  was:  "  Under  which 
King,  Bezonian  "  —  Russia's  or  Japan's  ?  The 
latter  won,  and  therefore  her  first  act  was  to 
occupy  Korea. 

The  Emperor  at  that  time,  Yi  Heni,  who  had 
ruled  since  1864,  was  naturally  restive  under 
the  domination  of  the  Japanese.  A  man  of 
flabby  will  and  helpless  incompetence  as  a  ruler, 


272  KOREA 

he  was  nevertheless  not  destitute  of  royal  pride, 
and  he  would  not  have  been  human  if  he  had 
not  felt  aggrieved  when  he  was  despoiled  of  his 
power.  He  hated  the  Japanese,  partly  because 
he  regarded  them  as  hereditary  enemies,  and 
partly  because  they  were  less  disposed  than  the 
Russians  to  flatter  him  and  to  supply  his  finan- 
cial necessities.  Failing  to  recognize  the  hope- 
lessness of  his  situation,  he  made  his  palace  a 
centre  of  intrigue  against  the  Japanese.  He 
was  too  helpless  to  do  anything  that  could  seri- 
ously affect  their  plans,  but  he  could  do  quite 
enough  to  irritate  the  Japanese  in  a  hundred 
ways  which  Oriental  duplicity  so  well  under- 
stands. 

Korean  The  limit  of  Japanese  patience  was  reached 

Diplomacy     when^  in  the  sprillg  of  1907?  the  Emperor  sent 

a  delegation  to  the  International  Conference  at 
The  Hague,  to  urge  the  interference  of  Western 
nations.  There  was  something  pathetic  in  the 
appearance  of  the  forlorn  but  patriotic  Koreans 
pleading  for  a  lost  cause,  for  of  course  The  Hague 
Commissioners  could  not  receive  them.  The 
Japanese  were  naturally  furious.  The  Korean 
Emperor  denied  that  he  was  responsible  for  the 
delegation,  but  no  one  believed  him. 

July  18,  the  Korean  Cabinet  Ministers  waited 
upon  his  Majesty  and  humbly  but  firmly  rep- 
resented to  him  the  serious  dangers  to  which 
he  was  exposing  his  country  by  his  continued 
opposition  to  the  Japanese,  and  advised  him  to 
abdicate.  The  Emperor  listened  with  mingled 
rage  and  consternation  ;  but  after  long  and 


MAP  OF 

KOREA 

Based  on  Korean  Maps,  and  Japanese, 
American  and 

SCALE   OF    MILES 


40         01 
Rail 
Proposed  Railways  ===== 

irine  Cables 

Telegraph  Connection*  in 
addition  to  those  along 
Rai  -__._g_ 

Mission  Stations    • 
Revised  to  January,  1908, 


Shin  Po  Anchorage 
eung 


in-cKbn    j)  I  Q 

Hai-iu   Kan-u 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  JAPANESE     273 

stormy  conferences  with  them  and  his  Elder 
Statesmen,  the  crushed  and  humiliated  monarch 
tremblingly  affixed  his  signature  to  an  imperial 
decree  announcing  the  transfer  of  the  throne  to 
the  Crown  Prince. 

There  was  an  immediate  storm  of  protest  from 
patriotic  Koreans.  Mobs  surrounded  the  pal- 
ace, and  for  a  time  it  looked  as  if  there  would  be 
serious  trouble.  But  the  Japanese  troops  were 
ready,  and  gradually  the  tumult  subsided,  though 
many  of  the  people  remained  sullen. 

Of  course  the  Japanese  virtuously  announced  Japan's 
that  they  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  Attitude 
Emperor's  abdication,  that  the  step  had  been 
taken  solely  on  the  advice  of  wise  and  patriotic 
Koreans  who  had  become  firmly  convinced  that 
the  retirement  of  the  Emperor  was  necessary  in 
the  interests  of  the  people  themselves,  that  the 
Japanese  would  have  preferred  to  have  the 
old  Emperor  remain  on  the  throne,  etc.  Of 
course,  also,  no  one  with  intelligence  enough 
to  be  out  of  a  kindergarten  doubts  that  the 
Japanese  virtually  deposed  the  troublesome  old 
Emperor.  Those  Korean  Ministers  never  would 
have  taken  such  a  step  if  they  had  not  sup- 
posed that  it  would  be  pleasing  to  the  Japanese ; 
and  if  they  had  been  mistaken,  the  Japanese 
would  have  stopped  them  in  a  hurry.  We  need 
not  waste  sympathy,  however,  on  the  old  Em- 
peror. He  deserved  all  he  got,  and  more. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  about  Japan's  dis- 
regard of  treaty  rights  in  this  matter;  but  the 
Japanese  defend  themselves  by  saying  that 


274  KOREA 

they  did  not  violate  any  treaty,  as  they  left 
the  throne  in  the  hands  of  the  Korean  royal 
family,  simply  anticipating  by  a  few  years  the 
transfer  from  father  to  son.  However  this 
may  be,  the  Japanese  lost  no  time  in  putting 
themselves  into  such  relations  with  the  situa- 
tion that  the  new  Emperor  would  be  even  more 
helpless  than  his  royal  father.  July  24,  Yi 
Wan-yong,  an  able  and  well-educated,  but  no- 
toriously corrupt  and  easily  bribed,  official, 
acting  by  authority  of  the  Emperor  and  Mar- 
quis Ito,  signed  an  agreement  at  the  Japanese 
Residency  which  declared  that  "  the  Govern- 
ment of  Korea  shall  follow  the  directions  of 
the  Resident  General"  in  enacting  laws,  ap- 
pointing and  dismissing  officials,  and  adminis- 
tering reforms. 

The  Japanese  are  now  reorganizing  every 
department  in  accordance  with  their  own  ideas. 
Roads  and  railways  are  being  constructed, 
telegraphs,  telephones,  waterworks,  banks,  and 
post-offices  established,  the  currency  reformed, 
courts  reorganized,  and  sanitary  measures  en- 
forced. 

Whether  the  Japanese  are  brutally  unjust  in 
their  dealings  with  the  Koreans  is  a  hotly  dis- 
puted question  into  which  we  have  not  space 
to  enter  at  length.1  Undoubtedly  the  con- 

1  For  the  pro- Japanese  view,  cf.  "With  Marquis  Ito  in 
Korea,"  "by  Professor  George  T.  Ladd  ;  for  the  anti-Japan- 
ese view,  cf.  "Japan;  An  Experiment,"  by  Professor 
Homer  B.  Hulbert  and  "The  Unveiled  East,"  by  F.  A. 
McKenzie. 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  JAPANESE     275 

duct  of  the  Japanese  has  been  characterized  by 
both  good  and  evil.  There  never  was  a  worse 
Augean  stable  to  be  cleansed  than  they  found 
in  the  Land  of  the  Morning  Calm,  and  the  situ- 
ation required  decisive  measures.  Corrupt 
officials  of  course  hoped  for  the  triumph  of  the 
Russians,  for  Russia  in  Korea  meant  abundance 
of  foreign  gold,  the  continuance  of  profligacy, 
misgovernment,  and  filth,  and,  in  general,  the 
policy  of  laissez-faire. 

The  Japanese,  on  the  other  hand,  are  reformers  Reforms 
in  Korea.  They  do  not  always  act  according 
to  Occidental  altruistic  ideas.  They  are  Ori- 
entals, their  moral  standards  are  low,  and  their 
methods  often  ruthless.  But  they  insist  on 
efficient  government.  The  common  people  are 
resentful  because  the  Japanese  compel  them  to 
work  on  the  roads,  docks,  railways,  and  other 
public  improvements.  The  Japanese  usually 
pay  something  for  what  they  take,  but  the 
Korean  interpreter  or  magistrate  steals  some  or 
all  of  the  money,  so  that  the  people  get  little. 
Besides,  the  indolent  Korean  does  not  like  to 
be  hustled,  and  his  resentment  bursts  into  fury 
when  he  is  forced  to  clean  his  filthy  alleys  and 
adopt  ordinary  sanitary  precautions. 

Such  a  process  of  reconstruction  almost  in-  Reconstruc- 
evitably  involves   more  or  less   irritation  and  tlon 
many  individual  cases  of  hardship.     There  are 
grave  reasons  for  believing  that  the  Japanese 
are  making  the  process  needlessly  trying  to  the 
helpless  natives.     Many  of  the  Japanese  who 
poured  into  Korea  after  the  war  were  greedy 


276  KOREA 

and  unscrupulous  adventurers,  and  their  treat- 
ment of  the  Koreans  was  brutal  and  oppressive. 
Instances  of  outrage  have  been  numerous. 
There  are  now  more  than  100,000  Japanese  in 
Korea,  and  their  attitude  toward  the  natives 
is,  as  a  rule,  contemptuous  or  worse.  Marquis 
Ito,  however,  declares  that  he  is  endeavoring 
to  put  a  stop  to  this  and  that  he  will  govern 
Korea  for  the  benefit  of  the  Koreans. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  justice  of 
Japanese  methods,  the  outcome  will  probably 
be  the  improvement  of  Korea.  At  any  rate, 
the  new  era  cannot  possibly  be  worse  than  the 
old.  Meantime,  Americans,  who  are  in  a  posi- 
tion to  know  wherein  the  Japanese  are  in  the 
wrong,  have  the  undoubted  right  to  criticise, 
and  if  their  criticisms  are  temperate  and  con- 
structive, they  may  help  materially  in  securing 
just  treatment  for  the  helpless  natives.  But 
the  foreigner  who  indiscriminately  denounces 
the  Japanese  may  discreetly  remember  that  the 
alleged  Christian  nations  have  not  set  Japan 
a  very  good  example  in  dealing  with  subject 
races.  To  say  nothing  of  French  misrule  in 
Madagascar  and  Spanish  in  Cuba  and  the  Phil- 
ippines, is  any  American  proud  of  his  coun- 
try's treatment  of  the  Indians  for  200  years 
after  the  white  man  came  ?  Can  any  Northern 
man  think  without  shame  of  the  "  carpet-bag  " 
days  which  followed  the  Civil  War  in  the 
South?  As  for  the  Philippines,  while  the 
Executive  Department  of  our  government  has 
done  admirably,  Congress  has  been  deaf  to  all 


MIS  SIGN AEY  WORK  277 

appeals  for  some  laws  which,  are  imperatively 
required  not  only  by  justice  but  by  humanity. 
Can  we  reasonably  expect  the  non-Christian 
Japanese  to  do  better  by  the  Koreans  than 
Christian  nations  have  done  by  their  conquered 
peoples  ?  We  are  not  excusing  the  Japanese  ; 
we  are  simply  reminding  ourselves  of  the  mag- 
nitude and  difficulty  of  their  task  and  of  our 
unfitness  to  be  unduly  censorious  in  judging 
them. 

MISSIONARY  WOKK 

The  Protestant  churches  of  America  have  Missions 
large  interests  in  Korea.  The  first  missionary 
visitor  was  a  Scotchman,  the  Rev.  John  Ross, 
of  Manchuria,  who  in  1873  made  a  tour  across 
the  border  into  northern  Korea  and  studied 
its  language  to  such  effect  that  he  was  subse- 
quently able  to  translate  the  New  Testament 
into  Korean.  Permanent  mission  work  did 
not  begin  till  the  treaty  of  May  22,  1883,  had 
brought  Korea  to  the  attention  of  the  outside 
world  and  set  the  door  ajar.  Then  far-seeing 
men  in  the  United  States  began  to  consider  the 
new  opportunity  and  to  plan  for  the  outreach 
to  the  people  whose  need  was  so  apparent.  In 
February,  1884,  Mr.  D.  W.  McWilliams  of  Pioneers 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  offered  the  Presbyterian  Board 
$5000,  for  this  purpose,  out  of  the  sum 
received  by  him  from  the  estate  of  Mr.  Fred- 
erick Marquand.  There  were  the  usual  objec- 
tions to  opening  new  work  when  the  old  was 
ill  equipped ;  but  God  was  plainly  leading,  the 


278  KOREA 

gift  was  accepted,  and  a  cable  sped  to  Shanghai 
bearing  the  single  word  "Korea."  Except 
for  the  efforts  of  the  Scotchman  on  the 
northern  border  already  noted,  "this  cable- 
gram was  the  first  voice  from  Protestant  Chris- 
tendom to  molest  the  age-old  heathenism  of 
Korea.  It  was  destined  to  wake  the  echoes 
from  end  to  end  of  the  kingdom."  That  mes- 
sage meant  that  a  young  physician  and  his 

Dr.  Allen  wife,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  H.  N.  Allen,  who  were  wait- 
ing in  Shanghai,  were  to  go  at  once  to  Korea  as 
the  ambassadors  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Dr. 
Allen  promptly  sailed,  and  reached  Seoul  Sep- 
tember 20,  1884,  Mrs.  Allen  joining  him  a  few 
months  later. 

They  met  a  hostile  reception,  and  it  is 
doubtful  whether  Dr.  Allen  could  have  re- 
mained if  the  American  Minister,  General 
Lucius  H.  Foote,  had  not  appointed  him 
surgeon  to  the  Legation.  December  4,  a  ban- 
quet was  given  at  the  palace  to  celebrate  the 
opening  of  the  first  Korean  post-office.  A 
revolutionary,  Kim  Ok  Kiun,  took  advantage 

Violence  of  the  opportunity.  In  the  tumult,  several 
high  officers  were  assassinated,  and  Prince  Min 
Yong  Ik,  a  nephew  of  the  King,  was  badly 
wounded.  Days  of  violence  followed.  The 
Japanese  Legation,  the  post-office,  the  resi- 
dences of  foreigners  were  looted,  and  on  the 
tenth,  the  American  Minister,  the  British  and 
German  Consuls-General,  and  all  the  other 
foreigners  in  Seoul,  except  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Allen, 
fled  to  Chemulpo.  The  heroic  missionary  and 


MISSIONARY  WORK  279 

his  wife  stood  at  their  posts.  Dr.  Allen 
wrote  :  "  We  couldn't  if  we  would  and  we 
wouldn't  if  we  could.  I  came  to  do  just  such 
work.  I  can't  leave  these  wounded  people. 
.  .  .  We  shall  live  in  the  Legation  with  the 
old  flag  flying  and  trust  the  kind  Father  to 
care  for  us." 

Nor  did  the  missionary  shut  himself  up  in  Victory 
the  empty  Legation.  He  bravely  made  his  fo?  Medical 
way  to  the  palace  and  offered  to  help  the 
wounded.  He  found  thirteen  native  physicians 
about  to  pour  boiling  wax  into  the  gaping 
wounds  of  the  Prince.  By  the  exercise  of  tact, 
he  succeeded  in  getting  an  opportunity  to  dress 
the  wounds.  To  the  surprise  of  every  one,  the 
Prince  recovered,  and  Dr.  Allen  became  the 
most  famous  man  in  the  capital.  The  grate- 
ful King  became  his  friend,  and  February  25, 
1885,  a  government  hospital  was  opened  under 
royal  patronage,  with  the  missionary  in  full 
charge.  The  King  himself  named  it  Hoy  Min 
So,  the  House  of  Civilized  Virtue.  The  40 
beds  were  quickly  filled,  and  within  the  first 
year  10,000  patients  were  treated. 

In  this  beneficent  way,  mission  work  obtained 
a  foothold.  April  5,  1885,  the  first  resident 
ordained  missionary  arrived,  the  Rev.  H.  G. 
Underwood,  also  a  Presbyterian,  who  speedily 
became  a  tower  of  strength  to  the  infant 
mission.  June  21,  J.  W.  Heron,  M.D.,  was 
added  to  the  little  company. 

Meantime,  the  Methodists  were  also  plan- 
ning missionary  work  in  Korea.  Their  atten- 


280  KOEEA 

TheMetho-  tion  was  first  directed  to  the  country  by  the 
dist Church  Rev  john  F  Goucher,  D.D.,  president  of  the 
Woman's  College,  Baltimore,  who,  during  a 
trip  across  the  continent  in  1883,  met  the  first 
Korean  Embassy  on  its  way  to  Washington. 
He  formed  a  pleasant  personal  acquaintance 
with  Prince  Min  Yong  Ik,  and  invited  him  and 
several  of  his  official  associates  to  visit  his 
home  in  Baltimore.  He  was  so  much  inter- 
ested that  he  wrote  to  the  Rev.  Robert  S. 
Maclay,  D.D.,  superintendent  of  the  Meth- 
odist Mission  in  Japan,  suggesting  that  he 
visit  Korea  and  report  upon  its  possibilities  as 
a  mission  field.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Maclay  made 
the  desired  visit  in  June,  1884,  and  sent  back 
such  a  favorable  report  that  Dr.  Goucher  was 
confirmed  in  his  first  impressions  as  to  the  im- 
portance of  the  field.  He  had  already  offered 
the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Church 
$2000  for  the  opening  of  this  work.  To  this 
sum  the  Board  added  $2000,  and  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  year  1884,  the  Rev.  H.  G.  Appen- 
zeller,  William  B.  Scranton,  M.D.,  and  his 
mother,  Mrs.  M.  F.  Scranton,  who  was  to  do 
such  a  great  work  for  the  women  and  girls 
in  connection  with  the  Ewa  school,  were  ap- 
pointed the  first  Methodist  missionaries  to 
Korea.  They  were  delayed  by  the  December 
revolution,  but  Mr.  Appenzeller  arrived  at 
Chemulpo  Easter  Sunday,  April  5,  1885,  and 
Dr.  Scranton  the  third  of  the  following  May. 
Both  men  developed  qualities  of  leadership 
and  soon  became  influential. 


MISSIONARY   WORK  281 

July  5,  1886,  three  American  school  teachers, 
Messrs.  Homer  B.  Hulbert,  Dalzell  A.  Bunker, 
and  George  W.  Gilrnore,  arrived,  sent  out  by 
the  American  government  at  the  request  of 
the  King  to  establish  an  English  school.  With 
them  came  a  trained  nurse  and  medical  stu- 
dent, a  Presbyterian,  Miss  Annie  Ellers,  who  Annie  Eiiers 
soon  became  physician  to  the  Queen  and 
swung  the  door  of  royal  favor  more  widely 
open.  After  her  marriage  to  Mr.  Bunker,  who 
joined  the  Methodist  Mission,  she  was  succeeded 
by  Miss  Lillias  Horton,  M.D.,  now  Mrs.  Under- 
wood, who  arrived  in  1888,  and  by  her  skill  and 
tact  gained  great  influence  at  the  palace. 

But  for  several  years  progress  was  very  slow. 
The  missionaries  were  endeavoring  to  commu- 
nicate totally  new  ideas  to  a  people  who  had 
been  made  sodden  and  apathetic  by  an  inheri- 
tance of  centuries  of  the  rankest  heathenism. 
It  is  difficult  for  us,  who  were  born  and  bred 
in  a  Christian  land  and  who  have  been  familiar 
with  the  Gospel  from  our  infancy,  to  understand 
how  difficult  it  is  for  the  Oriental  mind  to  grasp 
the  new  conceptions  which  Christianity  incul- 
cates. We  need  to  remember  that  our  own  an- 
cestors were  slow  in  grasping  them  and  that 
more  than  one  or  two  centuries  passed  before 
Christianity  was  clearly  understood  even  by 
Anglo-Saxons.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore, 
that  the  superstition-clouded  Korean  listened 
dully  and  thought  the  missionary  "a  setter 
forth  of  strange  gods."  Gradually,  however, 
the  truth  made  its  way.  Dr.  Underwood  bap- 


282  KOEEA 

First  tized  the  first  convert  in  1886,  and  the  Metho- 

Baptism  digt  Mission  received  its  first  convert  a  little 
later  in  the  same  year.  The  first  Protestant 
Church  in  Korea  was  organized  in  Seoul,  Sep- 
tember, 1887,  and  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  administered  the  first  time,  Christ- 
mas Day  of  that  year,  in  Mr.  Underwood's 
house.  Only  seven  persons  gathered  about  the 
Lord's  table  at  that  small  but  historic  service. 
After  ten  years  of  patient  labor  by  the  mission- 
aries of  several  denominations,  there  were  still 
only  141  baptized  Christians  in  all  Korea. 
Pyeng  The  work  early  found  a  foothold  in  Pyeng 

Yang  through  a  few  Koreans  who  had  been  in- 
structed by  the  missionaries.  By  1887,  there 
were  several  inquirers,  and  a  native  helper  was 
stationed  there  to  preach  to  them.  Soon  after 
the  Rev.  Samuel  A.  Moffett  arrived  in  Korea 
in  1889,  he  went  to  Pyeng  Yang.  He  found 
appalling  moral  conditions,  for  the  city  was  no- 
torious as  the  wickedest  in  Korea.  The  diffi- 
culties were  numerous  and  formidable.  A 
faint-hearted  man  would  have  been  discouraged 
and  driven  out,  but  Mr.  Moffett  took  a  poor 
little  Korean  house,  the  only  one  available, 
lived  among  the  people,  and  by  patience  and 
tact  made  his  way  into  their  confidence.  In 
1892,  he  was  joined  by  the  Rev.  Graham  Lee, 
also  a  Presbyterian,  and  by  Dr.  M.  J.  Hall,  of 
the  Methodist  Mission. 

One  of  the  notable  Korean  Christians  was  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Kim  Chang  Sik.  Brought 
by  a  Korean  friend  to  the  home  of  a  missionary 


MISSIONARY  WOEK  283 

in  Seoul,  he  was  converted,  and  in  1894  was  sent 
lo  his  own  home  in  Pyeng  Yang  to  aid  Dr. 
Hall.  But  by  this  time  the  opposition  had 
become  violent.  Persecution  broke  out,  and  Persecution 
Kim  was  one  of  the  first  to  be  arrested.  He 
and  other  Christians  were  cruelly  beaten,  placed 
in  stocks,  and  warned  that  if  they  did  not  give 
up  the  foreigner's  religion  they  would  be  pun- 
ished still  more  severely.  The  others,  in  their 
pain  and  terror,  yielded,  but  Kim  remained 
steadfast.  He  was  taken  to  the  death  cell,  but 
though  believing  that  he  would  be  decapitated 
if  he  did  not  recant,  he  nevertheless  exclaimed 
in  a  spirit  worthy  of  the  ancient  martyrs  :  "God 
loves  me  and  has  forgiven  my  sins.  How  can 
I  curse  Him!  The  foreigner  is  kind  and  pays 
my  honest  wages ;  why  should  I  forsake  him  ?  " 
Fortunately,  orders  came  from  Seoul  to  release 
the  prisoners,  and  the  mangled  and  half-dead 
Kim  went  out  with  the  others.  His  fidelity 
made  a  profound  impression  upon  all  who  knew 
him,  and  people  began  to  say  that  there  must 
be  something  real  in  the  new  religion  when  a 
man  was  willing  to  suffer  so  much  for  it. 

The  war  of  1894  between  China  and  Japan  War  of  1894 
powerfully  influenced  the  work.  As  during 
the  earlier  stages  of  the  Russo-Japanese  War, 
Korea  became  the  battle-ground  of  the  contend- 
ing forces.  Soon  it  became  evident  that  the 
decisive  battle  of  the  war  would  be  fought  in 
the  vicinity  of  Pyeng  Yang.  The  wildest  ex- 
citement prevailed.  In  the  crash,  much  Korean 
property  was  destroyed,  the  fields  were  ravaged, 


284  KOREA 

and  many  of  the  unhappy  people,  caught  be- 
tween the  upper  and  the  nether  millstones, 
suffered  from  wounds  and  sickness  as  well  as 
terror. 

Though  the  situation  was  known  to  be  full 
of  danger,  the  missionaries  heroically  remained 
at  their  posts.  At  the  risk  of  their  own  lives, 
they  went  about  among  the  panic-stricken 
people,  binding  up  the  wounds  of  the  injured, 
caring  for  the  sick,  burying  the  dead,  and  do- 
ing everything  in  their  power  to  allay  terror 
and  to  urge  trust  in  God. 

Devotion  of  Then  the  Koreans  realized  for  the  first  time 
missionaries  fa^  ^ne  American  missionaries  were  the  best 
friends  they  had.  Public  sentiment  began  to 
change.  An  epidemic  of  cholera  in  Seoul 
brought  out  like  devotion  on  the  part  of  the 
missionaries  there.  They  toiled  indefatigably 
for  the  sick  and  dying,  performing  offices  from 
which  the  bravest  Koreans  shrank,  and  expos- 
ing themselves  without  stint.  Their  skilful 
treatment  of  the  sick  saved  hundreds  of  lives. 

"  All  these  recoveries  made  no  little  stir  in  the  city. 
Proclamations  were  posted  on  the  walls,  telling  people 
there  was  no  need  for  them  to  die  when  they  might  go 
to  the  Christian  hospital  and  live.  People  who  watched 
missionaries  working  over  the  sick  night  after  night  said 
to  each  other :  '  How  these  foreigners  love  us !  Would 
we  do  as  much  for  one  of  our  own  kin  as  they  do  for  stran- 
gers?' Some  men  who  saw  Mr.  Underwood  hurrying 
along  the  road  in  the  gray  twilight  of  a  summer  morning 
remarked :  *  There  goes  the  Jesus  man ;  he  works  all  night 
and  all  day  with  the  sick  without  resting.'  *  Why  does 
he  do  it  ? '  said  another.  <  Because  he  loves  us/  was  the 


MISSIONARY  WORK  285 

reply.     What  sweeter  reward  could  be  had  than  that  the 
people  should  see  the  Lord  in  our  service."1 

From  that  time  the  work  made  rapid  prog-  AWonder- 
ress.  In  the  Pyeng  Yang  field,  the  develop-  fuistory 
ment  was  remarkable.  The  story  of  the  last 
decade  is  one  of  the  most  inspiring  chapters  in 
the  history  of  Protestant  missions  in  any  land. 
The  people  who  had  been  living  in  darkness, 
bondage,  and  superstition,  who  had  seen  ghosts 
and  evil  spirits  in  every  rock  and  tree,  in  the 
murmur  of  the  waves  and  in  the  roar  of  the 
thunder,  heard  the  missionaries  teach  in  their 
villages  that  the  power  above  was  not  a  demon 
trying  to  injure  them,  but  a  loving  Father, 
whose  heart  went  out  to  them  as  His  wander- 
ing children,  who  had  given  His  only  begotten 
Son  for  their  redemption,  and  who,  if  they 
turned  to  Him  in  repentance  and  faith,  would 
bestow  upon  them  the  joy  and  the  dignity  of  a 
new  life.  Eagerly  the  people  listened.  This 
time  the  truth  sank  deep  into  their  hearts,  and 
erelong  the  good  news  began  to  spread  in  all 
directions.  As  these  pages  are  written,  a  re-  Revival 
vival,  never  surpassed  in  all  the  history  of 
missions,  is  sweeping  over  Korea.  Perhaps  it 
is  hardly  proper  to  state  that  it  began  in  the 
early  part  of  1907,  for  a  revival  had  been 
almost  continuous  there  for  years;  but  at  that 
time  it  assumed  wonderful  proportions.  The 
Rev.  W.  L.  Swallen  gives  the  following  account 
of  what  occurred  at  Pyeng  Yang:  — 

1  Mrs.  Underwood,  p.  144. 


286  KOREA 

"The  entire  city  was  mapped  out,  and  each  church 
made  responsible  for  its  prescribed  territory.  Some 
2000  persons  have  been  led  to  accept  Christ  as  their 
Saviour.  The  churches  are  all  filled  and  overflowing, 
and  in  order  to  relieve  the  congestion,  the  men  and 
women  are  compelled  to  meet  for  worship  at  separate 
hours. 

"  Immediately  after  the  city  campaign,  the  Methodist 
Mission's  Class  for  Preachers  and  Christian  Workers 
was  held.  About  one  hundred  of  their  best  men  were 
gathered  for  a  month's  study.  Here,  too,  the  blessing  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  was  received  and  the  same  agonizing  for 
sin  was  experienced  as  in  the  former  meetings.  These 
men  have  gone  out  from  this  class  possessed  with  a  love 
for  God  and  man  unknown  before. 

Women's  "No  sooner  had  this  company  left  the  city,  than  in 

meetings  came  550  of  the  leading  women  from  the  country 
churches  to  attend  the  Woman's  Training  Class  of  the 
Presbyterian  Mission,  which  continued  for  twelve  days. 
Conviction  and  confessions  began  almost  from  the  first. 
At  times  the  whole  congregation  would  wail  together 
and  cry  out  to  God  for  mercy.  When  any  one  would 
become  so  overcome  with  grief  as  to  be  unable  to  cease, 
the  congregation  would  break  out  together  in  audible 
prayer,  after  which  a  song  might  be  sung.  If  still  there 
were  those  who  could  not  get  comfort,  then  those  sainted 
women  who  had  previously  gone  through  with  such  an 
experience  themselves  and  had  gotten  peace  would  go 
through  the  congregation  like  angelic  messengers,  seek- 
ing out  such  and,  putting  their  arms  about  them  in  un- 
mistakable love,  speak  peace  to  their  agonizing  souls. 
With  few  exceptions,  these  women  went  to  their  homes 
with  their  hearts  filled  with  a  new  joy,  and  a  noble 
purpose  to  live  better  lives  in  the  future. 

"Again,  before  these  550  women  had  reached  their 
homes,  75  theological  students  were  gathered  from  every 
part  of  Korea  to  spend  three  months  in  study.  Daily 
united  prayer  had  been  offered  by  the  missionary  com- 
munity for  some  time  previous.  It  was  felt  that  of  all 
men  these  upon  whose  shoulders  the  main  burden  of  the 


MISSIONARY  WORK  287 

young  Korean  Church  must  rest  should  be  Spirit-filled 
men.  Indeed  the  blessing  that  has  actually  come  upon 
the  Korean  Christians  in  general  is  such  as  to  make  it 
next  to  impossible  that  any  but  Spirit-filled  men  should 
hope  to  hold  the  places  of  authority  in  the  church. 

"  From  the  first,  these  evening  meetings  were  intense  Fervent 
with  fervent  prayer.  Saturday  night,  the  meeting  was  prayer 
allowed  to  continue  until  midnight.  The  Spirit  was 
present  in  wonderful  power,  compelling  men  to  reveal 
what  lay  hidden  in  their  past  lives.  On  Monday  and 
Tuesday,  regular  recitations  were  out  of  the  question, 
so  the  whole  day  and  evening  were  devoted  to  prayer 
and  confession.  Under  the  Spirit's  illumination,  these 
men  felt  themselves  to  be  all  unclean,  unworthy  sinners, 
and  a  cry  for  mercy  went  up  to  God  that  no  words  can 
describe. 

"  As  nearly  all  had  confessed  at  one  time  or  another, 
the  evening  was  now  given  to  praise  and  thanksgiving. 
This,  too,  was  a  most  marvellous  meeting.  One  after 
another  and  sometimes  many  together  arose  and  testified, 
until  most  of  the  75  theologues  gave  joyful  testimony  to 
the  peace  received.  For  three  hours,  an  uninterrupted 
volume  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  ascended  like  sweet 
incense  to  God." 

Surely  the  people  of  God  in  all  lands  may 
share  in  the  rejoicing  over  this  mighty  mani- 
festation of  Divine  power,  especially  as  it 
shows  no  sign  of  abating.  Nor  is  the  move- 
ment confined  to  the  central  stations  where 
there  are  missionaries.  Much  might  be  writ- 
ten of  many  out-stations  where  a  remarkable 
work  has  grown  up.  At  Kang  Kai,  an  isolated 
northern  city  of  10,000  inhabitants,  250  miles 
from  Syen  Chyun,  there  has  never  been  a  resi- 
dent missionary,  only  a  visiting  one  at  rare 
intervals.  "  The  people  come  long  distances  to 


288  KOREA 

meet  him  ;  they  crowd  the  rooms  of  the  inns 
and  often  stand  outside  for  hours  in  the  snow 
to  hear  the  one  message  of  the  year  from  the 
Lord.  From  this  scanty  seed-sowing,  there 
are  now  over  1200  adherents  of  the  Christian 
Idols  Church  who  have  thrown  away  their  idols  and 

thrown  fetiches,  have  given  up  the  worship  of  evil 
spirits,  are  keeping  the  Sabbath,  and  often  amid 
persecution  and  earthly  loss  are  following  the 
dim  light  they  have  seen." 

Sorai  The  reputation  of  Sorai  ought  to  be  as  wide 

as  Christendom.  Think  of  a  place  of  fifty- 
eight  houses,  in  fifty  of  which  all  persons  over 
fifteen  years  of  age  are  Christians ;  a  com- 
munity in  which  there  is  no  liquor,  no  brawl- 
ing, no  vice  of  any  kind ;  where  the  Sabbath 
is  scrupulously  kept,  and  the  entire  popula- 
tion attends  church,  Sunday-school,  and  prayer- 
meeting  !  The  church  is  a  notable  building 
for  Korea,  almost  imposing  in  comparison  with 
the  humble  homes  of  the  people. 

Two  brothers  were  God's  instruments  in 
creating  this  model  Christian  village.  About 
twenty  years  ago,  the  elder  was  converted 
through  the  Rev.  John  Ross,  during  a  visit 
in  Manchuria.  Soon  after  his  return  to  Korea, 
he  met  Dr.  Underwood,  who  gladly  gave  him 
the  instruction  he  was  so  eager  to  obtain. 
Then,  filled  with  joy  and  zeal  like  Andrew  of 
old,  "He  first  findeth  his  own  brother,  and 
saith  unto  him,  '  We  have  found  the  Mes- 
siah,' and  he  brought  him  to  Jesus."  Re- 
moving to  Sorai,  these  brothers  preached  the 


MISSIONARY  WORK  289 

Gospel  with  such  power  and  exemplified  it 
with  such  beauty  of  character  that  the  whole 
village  was  transformed.  No  missionary  re- 
sides in  Sorai,  and  none  is  needed,  for  practi- 
cally the  whole  community  is  Christian,  and 
Sau  Kyung  Jo  wisely  shepherds  the  flock.  I 
know  of  no  more  remarkable  illustration  of  the 
inherent  vitality  and  self-propagating  power  of 
Christianity. 

As  we  gazed  upon  the  Christian  homes  clus- 
tering at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  the  wide  expanse 
of  meadow  beyond,  and  farther  away  but  in 
plain  view  the  quiet  sea,  the  clouds  which 
had  heavily  lowered  during  the  day  suddenly 
broke,  the  setting  sun  burst  forth  in  tender 
glories,  and  at  evening  time  there  was  light. 
The  sound  of  a  trumpet  was  heard.  Softly 
and  yet  clearly  it  echoed  among  the  trees  and 
through  the  village,  and  soon  answering  groups 
of  white-robed  figures  were  wending  their  way 
up  the  hillside  to  the  House  of  God,  where  we 
communed  long  with  them  as  the  shadows 
fell  and  the  stars  came  out. 

Our  entire  trip  through  the  villages  of  in-  Christian 
terior  Korea  was  a  revelation  to  us.  Almost 
every  night  we  had  a  picture  in  chiaroscuro 
of  the  spiritual  condition  of  Asia.  A  hum- 
ble church,  whose  flickering  oil  lamps  filled 
the  interior  with  a  light  not  strong  indeed, 
but  yet  sufficiently  clear  to  make  the  room 
bright  in  contrast  with  the  surrounding  dark- 
ness, was  filled  with  believers  who  were 
rejoicing  within  the  pale  of  "His  marvellous 


290  KOREA 

light."  Beyond  them,  and  crowding  the  doors, 
were  many  others,  not  yet  wholly  in  the  light, 
but  partially  illuminated  by  it,  their  eager 
faces  turned  toward  the  place  from  which  it 
was  shining,  and  where  a  man  was  speaking 
of  the  Light  of  the  World.  Behind  these  were 
still  others  whom  I  could  not  count,  standing 
in  deeper  shadows.  Now  and  then  a  flare  of 
the  lamp  shot  a  ray  of  light  into  the  gloom 
and  showed  scores  of  spectators,  some  indif- 
ferent, some  curious,  some  gravely  wondering; 
and  then  the  darkness  would  silently  enfold 
them  again  so  that  only  indistinct  masses  of 
heavier  blackness  showed  where  an  unnum- 
bered multitude  was  gathered.  As  I  looked 
upon  this  scene  night  after  night,  I  was  en- 
couraged by  the  number  of  those  who  had 
come  into  the  light,  but  I  was  "  burdened  for 
those  who  are  standing  in  the  dark." 

Number  of  But  the  number  of  enlightened  ones  is  rapidly 
Christians  increasing.  Dr.  Underwood  declares  that  there 
are  now  no  less  than  150,000  Christians  in 
Korea,  and  the  movement  seems  to  be  only 
beginning.  Surely  this  is  a  remarkable  record 
when  we  consider  that  the  first  missionary  did 
not  arrive  until  1884,  and  that  practically  all 
of  these  converts  have  developed  within  the 
last  fourteen  years. 

The  Presbyterians  alone  now  report  seven 
stations,  767  out-stations,  78  foreign  missionaries, 
358  schools,  of  which  334  are  entirely  self-sup- 
porting, six  hospitals,  492  native  helpers,  15,079 
baptized  communicants,  and  16,721  catechumens. 


MISSIONARY  WORK 


291 


The  oldest  station  is,  of  course,  at  Seoul.  Seoul 
The  institutional  work  includes  the  John  D. 
Wells  Training  School  for  Christian  Workers, 
founded  by  the  family  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr. 
Wells,  of  Brooklyn,  New  York ;  a  board- 
ing-school for  girls,  built  by  Mr.  John  H. 
Converse,  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  Severance 
Hospital,  the  largest  and  the  best-equipped 
institution  of  the  kind  in  Korea,  erected  by 
Mr.  Lewis  H.  Severance,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
There  are  four  churches.  On  a  recent  Sunday, 
there  were  1500  present  at  the  Yun  Mot  Kol 
Church.  All  Korean  congregations  sit  on  the 
floor,  the  men  with  their  hats  on,  and  the  men 
and  women  divided  by  a  partition,  the  preacher 
standing  so  that  he  can  see  both  sexes.  When 
the  minister  wishes  to  make  more  room,  he  calls 
upon  the  congregation  to  rise  ;  then  he  asks  the 
people  to  move  forward  and  to  sit  down  again. 

The  Presbyterian  work  centering  in  Pyeng  Pyeng  Yang 
Yang  is  one  of  the  most  famous  mission  works 
in  the  world,  from  the  viewpoint  of  rapidity  of 
growth  and  of  the  self-support  and  self-propa- 
gation of  the  native  church.  There  are  now 
no  less  than  6089  communicants,  5784  cate- 
chumens, 16,746  Sunday-school  scholars,  and 
20,414  adherents.  I  looked  with  wonder  on 
a  congregation  of  1800  reverent  worshippers 
where  mission  work  was  not  begun  till  1894, 
and  the  wonder  increased  when  I  found  the 
whole  congregation  in  four  sections  studying 
the  Bible  in  the  Sunday-school,  while  the 
Wednesday  evening  prayer-meeting  was  afr 


292  KOREA 

1200  People  tended  by  1200.  The  city  church  is  the  largest 
meetfngyer"  in  Korea>  ^th  a  membership  of  1076  and  a 
catechumen  roll  of  385.  The  growth  of  the 
church  has  been  attended  with  the  difficulty 
of  providing  for  the  increasing  congregation. 
Three  other  churches  have  been  organized  from 
this  one,  and  still,  although  a  gallery  providing 
for  200  has  been  put  in,  it  is  filled  every  Sun- 
day, and  at  times  many  are  turned  away.  The 
midweek  prayer-meeting  is  probably  the  lar- 
gest in  the  world,  the  attendance  rarely  falling 
below  1000  and  often  rising  to  1400.  A  theo- 
logical seminary  has  75  students. 

Comity  The  Methodists  and  Presbyterians  amicably 

divide  the  territory  and  cooperate  in  the  most 
brotherly  fashion.  The  medical  and  educa- 
tional work  is  conducted  in  common.  The 
two  hospitals,  Caroline  A.  Ladd  (Presbyterian) 
and  Hall  Memorial  (Methodist),  are  operated 
as  one  under  a  joint  staff  of  the  Presbyterian 
and  Methodist  physicians,  and  together  they 
treated  17,698  patients  last  year.  The  Union 
Academy  for  boys  has  400  students.  The  boys 
are  required  to  be  self-supporting  as  far  as 
possible,  and  there  is  an  industrial  department 
which  includes  farming,  gardening,  printing, 
carpentering,  blacksmithing,  and  other  trades. 

The  education  of  girls  is  not  yet  so  well 
developed,  but  there  are  several  primary  schools 
and  a  union  boarding-school.  The  difficulties 
are  greater  than  with  boys,  owing  to  the  Korean 
feeling  that  girls  are  not  worth  educating. 
The  Christians,  however,  are  quicker  to  see  the 


MISSIONARY   WORK  293 

need  of  education  for  their  girls,  and  as  the 
ideals  of  the  Gospel  become  known,  new  am- 
bitions are  stirred. 

Taiku  Station  was  opened  in  October,  1897,  Taiku 
by  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  James  E.  Adams,  who 
were  joined  in  December  by  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
W.  O.  Johnson.  The  loneliness  and  privation 
of  life  at  this  inland  city  were  trying,  and  the 
little  mud-walled  Korean  houses  were  unhealthy. 
Several  times  sickness  prostrated  some  members 
of  the  circle,  the  physician  himself  being  brought 
to  death's  door  by  typhus  fever  in  1900.  But 
the  missionaries  persisted  with  unfaltering  faith 
and  courage.  After  a  time,  a  cheap  hillside 
was  bought  and  residences  were  erected.  Other 
missionaries  have  joined  the  original  number,  a 
hospital  has  been  built,  the  gift  of  Miss  Mary 
H.  Wright,  of  Philadelphia,  and  a  successful 
work  is  being  pressed  in  all  directions.  In 
1902, 177  adults  had  been  baptized.  In  1903, 
the  number  had  increased  to  477,  in  1904  to  780, 
and  in  1907  the  Christian  community  in  Taiku 
and  the  outlying  villages  numbered  6145,  and 
formed  no  less  than  84  distinct  groups,  several  of 
which  have  erected  their  own  chapels. 

Syen  Chyun,  100  miles  north  of  Pyeng  Yang,  Syen  Chynn 
though  only  an  ordinary  town  in  size,  has 
recently  sprung  into  prominence  for  its  remark- 
able missionary  work.  The  station  was  not 
organized  until  1901,  but  it  already  reports  102 
out-stations,  4039  communicants,  4667  cate- 
chumens, and  15,348  adherents.  1085  baptized 
adults  were  received  last  year. 


294  KOREA 

Fusan  At  Fusan  there  are  six  missionaries,  includ- 

ing wives,  an  excellent  hospital,  "  The  Junkin 
Memorial,"  and  an  extensive  evangelistic  work. 
There  are  578  communicants,  of  whom  227  were 
added  last  year,  662  catechumens,  and  2017 
adherents.  The  stations  at  Chai  Ryong  and 
Chong  Ju  are  new,  but  very  promising.  A 
special  work  among  the  Japanese  in  Korea  has 
recently  been  inaugurated,  the  Rev.  and  Mrs. 
F.  S.  Curtis  having  been  transferred  from  Japan 
for  this  purpose. 

The  Methodists,  who  sent  their  first  mission- 
aries to  Korea  in  1885,  have  stations  at  Seoul, 
Pyeng  Yang,  Chemulpo,  Hai-ju,  Kong-ju, 
and  Yeng-byen.  They  report  42  mission- 
aries, including  wives  and  14  missionaries 
of  the  Woman's  Society,  220  native  preachers, 
teachers,  and  other  helpers,  3885  members, 
19,570  probationers,  and  16,158  catechumens 
and  other  adherents,  153  Sunday-schools,  49 
churches  and  chapels,  and  yen  27,016  contrib- 
uted by  the  Koreans.  The  mission  has  Bible 
Training  School,  three  high  schools,  and  103  day 
schools,  with  3538  pupils. 

The  work  at  Seoul  is  extensive.  The  Woman's 
Hospital  is  in  charge  of  three  devoted  women 
physicians.  Boarding-schools  for  both  boys 
and  girls  are  housed  in  large  and  well-appointed 
brick  buildings.  The  Boys'  Boarding-school  is 
an  institution  of  great  influence.  Its  Korean 
name  is  "  Pai  Chai  Hakdang,"  which  may  be 
translated,  "Hall  for  the  Rearing  of  Useful 
Men,"  a  name  given  to  it  by  the  King  in  1887. 


MISSIONARY  WOEK  295 

The  Methodist  Press  was  founded  in  1889.   Printing- 
Its  original  object  was  to  give  employment  to  press 
deserving  students  in  the  Boys'  School,  but  it 
soon  grew  to  be  an  important  agency  in   the 
evangelization  of  Korea.     It  does  printing  not 
only  for  that  denomination,  but  for  other  de- 
nominations as  well,  the  latter,  of  course,  pay- 
ing for  their  work  at  job  rates. 

The  First  Methodist  Church  is  a  large  brick  First 
edifice,  and  a  counted  congregation  recently 
numbered  1100.  This  church  has  a  night- 
school  entirely  supported  by  the  church,  has 
gained  over  1000  in  membership  during  the 
past  year,  and  pays  all  its  own  bills. 

The  Methodist  work  centering  in  Pyeng  Yang 
is  also  very  interesting.  There  are  two  churches 
in  the  city  enrolling  261  communicants,  602 
probationers,  and  1573  adherents.  The  church 
building  in  the  compound  on  the  hill  is  a  prom- 
inent feature  of  the  city.  The  medical  and 
educational  work  is  in  union  with  the  Presby- 
terians, as  already  indicated.  Four  country 
circuits  are  included  in  the  Pyeng  Yang  dis- 
trict, the  total  number  of  members  and  proba- 
tioners being  4195,  besides  3735  adherents. 
The  Presiding  Elder,  the  Rev.  William  A.  Noble, 
writes :  "  The  total  increase  in  followers  dur- 
ing the  year  has  not  been  paralleled  during  the 
history  of  our  work  in  northern  Korea.  Our  Great 
numbers  have  doubled.  The  district  now  Progress 
records  a  total  following  of  more  than  all  our 
work  in  Korea  three  years  ago.  .  .  .  The  im- 
mediate effect  of  the  revival  has  been  to  revolu- 


296  KOREA 

lionize  the  character  of  the  church.  It  has- 
given  the  people  at  large  a  different  idea  of 
what  it  means  to  become  a  Christian.  Now 
they  are  discriminating  in  judgment.  A  man 
will  take  a  stand  in  relation  to  moral  questions 
with  intelligence,  and  commit  himself  only  when 
ready  to  make  a  change  in  his  life." 

The  Biblical  Institute  was  held  in  two  sections 
last  year,  one  at  Seoul,  and  one  at  Pyeng  Yang. 
At  the  close  of  the  session  for  the  training  of 
lay  workers  at  Pyeng  Yang,  when  the  men  had 
been  asked  to  consider  the  claims  of  God's  min- 
istry upon  their  lives,  volunteers  were  called 
for,  and  178  of  the  finest  men  in  the  north  vol- 
unteered to  give  themselves  to  the  ministry. 
Chemulpo  The  work  at  Chemulpo  is  comparatively  new. 
It  began  in  1889  as  an  out-station  of  Seoul,  with 
a  native  helper  in  charge.  In  1891  a  chapel 
was  erected,  and  in  1892  the  Rev.  George  Heber 
Jones  took  up  his  residence,  and  began  to  push 
the  work  with  energy  and  success.  There  are 
now  a  church,  two  schools,  and  six  missionaries, 
including  wives.  The  Chemulpo  District  in- 
cludes three  circuits  on  the  mainland  and  three 
on  14  islands  within  a  radius  of  40  miles  of 
the  port  of  Chemulpo.  During  the  past  year 
work  has  been  opened  in  34  new  villages,  seven 
churches  have  been  built,  and  schools  estab- 
lished in  12  villages.  Two  of  the  circuits  have 
doubled  the  number  of  their  preaching  places. 
A  village  on  one  circuit  is  practically  Christian, 
having  now  only  one  heathen  home.  Wesley 
Church,  Chemulpo,  has  not  only  been  self -sup- 


MISSIONARY  WORK  297 

porting,  but  has  helped  several  needy  churches, 
contributed  to  the  Boys'  School,  and  kept  two 
girls  in  school  in  Nagasaki,  Japan.  The  three 
other  stations  are  comparatively  small  as  yet, 
but  they  are  well  located,  and  afford  excellent 
promise. 

The  beginning  of  Methodist  woman's  work  in  Work  for 
Korea,  by  Mrs.  M.  F.  Scranton  in  Seoul,  in  the  Women 
fall  of  1884,  has  already  been  alluded  to.  A 
boarding-school  was  organized,  arid  in  spite  of 
suspicion  and  opposition  during  the  earlier  years, 
its  success  was  continuous.  In  1887,  Dr.  Meta 
Howard,  the  first  woman  physician,  arrived  in 
Seoul,  and  in  the  spring  of  1888  the  first  hospi- 
tal for  women  was  opened.  This  is  about  to  be 
replaced  by  the  Lillian  Harris  Memorial  Hospi- 
tal. Some  years  later  a  dispensary  was  opened 
at  the  opposite  end  of  the  city.  A  training 
school  for  nurses,  established  by  Miss  Margaret 
Edmunds  in  1903,  is  proving  a  valuable  aid  in 
the  medical  work. 

In  1898,  work  was  begun  in  Pyeng  Yang  by 
Dr.  Rosetta  Sherwood  Hall.  The  hospital  here 
was  burned  to  the  ground  in  November,  1906, 
and  is  soon  to  be  replaced  by  a  larger  one.  Dr. 
Esther  Kim  Pak,  one  of  the  first  pupils  of  the 
boarding-school,  and  the  first  Korean  woman  to 
receive  the  degree  of  M.D.  in  the  United  States, 
has  been  associated  with  Dr.  Hall  since  1900. 

Methodist  woman's  work  now  includes  one 
boarding-school,  with  an  enrolment  of  104  ;  28 
day  schools,  three  of  which  are  self-supporting, 
with  1200  pupils;  35  Bible  women;  10,000 


298 


KOREA 


The  S.  P.  G. 


Bishop 
Turner 


women  on  the  church  rolls,  and  as  many  more 
waiting  for  instruction.  During  1907,  12,000 
women  and  children  received  medical  treatment 
in  the  hospitals  and  dispensaries. 

Other  churches  are  having  a  part  in  this 
great  movement,  though  their  work  is  as  yet 
conducted  on  a  smaller  scale  than  that  of  the 
Presbyterians  and  Methodists. 

The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gos- 
pel (the  Church  of  England)  had  received  a 
suggestion  from  the  Rev.  A.  C.  Shaw,  one  of  its 
missionaries  in  Japan,  as  early  as  1880,  for  the 
founding  of  a  mission  in  Korea.  This  suggestion 
was  reenf  orced  in  1887  by  Bishops  Scott,  of  North 
China,  and  Bickerstaph,  of  Japan,  who  visited 
Korea  in  that  year.  The  Society  did  not  deem 
it  practicable,  however,  to  open  work  until 
the  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  John  Corfe,  D.D.,  who 
had  been  consecrated  the  first  missionary  Bishop 
of  Korea  in  Westminster  Abbey  on  All  Saints' 
Day,  1889,  arrived  September  29,  1890,  with  six 
ordained  men  and  two  physicians.  Property 
was  acquired  at  Seoul  and  Chemulpo,  and  work 
begun.  September  30,  1891,  the  first  Anglican 
Church  in  Korea  was  dedicated  at  Chemulpo, 
and  on  the  following  Sunday,  the  first  confirma- 
tion was  held,  "  the  candidate  being  a  little 
serving-maid  of  a  pious  German  family." 

The  resignation  of  Bishop  Corfe  was  followed 
by  the  election  of  Bishop  H.  B.  Turner  in  1905. 
Within  the  last  two  years,  the  work  has  grown 
more  rapidly.  Four  points  are  now  occupied. 
Chemulpo  has  a  well-equipped  hospital,  under 


MISSIONARY   WORK  299 

the  care  of  Dr.  Weir,  assisted  by  several  nurses, 
though  there  is  no  resident  clergyman.  Seoul, 
which  is  the  residence  of  the  bishop,  has  a  church 
under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  W.  N.  Gurney,  who, 
however,  reports  to  the  Society  that  the  field  is 
a  very  difficult  one,  and  that  there  is  little  to 
show  for  fifteen  years  of  occupation.  The 
Society  reports  little  evangelistic  work  in  either 
Seoul  or  Chemulpo.  .  Sou-won,  a  walled  town 
40  miles  south  of  Seoul,  was  opened  as  a  station 
in  1905,  and  the  work  has  started  encourag- 
ingly, several  hundred  inquirers  and  catechu- 
mens having  already  been  enrolled,  and  the 
Sunday  congregations  numbering  about  300 
worshippers.  The  largest  work  of  the  Society 
in  Korea  is  on  Kanghwa,  an  island  off  the  west 
coast,  about  the  size  of  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
There  are  missionaries  at  two  towns,  Kanghwa 
City  and  On  Sou  Tong,  and  the  Society  has  a 
high  school,  several  day  schools,  and  a  large 
central  church. 

In  September,  1906,  the  Rev.  S.  H.  Cart- 
wright,  of  the  Japan  Mission,  began  a  special 
work  among  the  Japanese  in  Korea,  making 
Seoul  his  headquarters.  The  Society  now  has 
in  Korea  seven  clergymen,  two  lay  missionaries, 
and  three  single  women. 

The  Southern  Presbyterian  Mission  was  Southern 
established  in  1892,  when  six  missionaries, 
arrived.  They  began  their  work  in  Seoul,  but 
later  removed  to  the  two  Chel-la  provinces  in 
the  southwestern  part  of  Korea.  Here  they 
are  now  maintaining  three  effective  stations. 


300  KOREA 

Chun-ju,  a  walled  city  of  25,000  people,  is  the 
capital  of  North  Chel-la  province  and  the 
market  town  of  one  of  the  most  fertile  and 
thickly  populated  rice  plains  of  Korea.  The 
natives  have  a  saying  which  indicates  their 
estimation  of  it :  "  If  you  can't  go  to  see  Seoul, 
see  Chun-ju."  The  mission  station  here  was 
opened  in  1896. 

Kun-san,  also  opened  as  a  station  in  1896,  is 
the  treaty  port  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chang-po 
River,  150  miles  south  of  Chemulpo.  There 
are  many  villages  in  the  adjacent  region. 

Mokp*  Mokpo  and  Kwang-ju  are  usually  associated 

as  one  station.  The  work  was  begun  in  1898 
at  the  former  place.  But  although  Mokpo  is  a 
treaty  port  with  a  fine  harbor,  it  has  "an  un- 
fortunate scarcity  of  two  things  essential  to 
a  prosperous  mission  station,  viz.  fresh  water 
and  Koreans."  So  the  main  part  of  the  station 
has  been  transferred  to  Kwang-ju,  a  city  of 
10,000  inhabitants,  60  miles  in  the  interior,  and 
the  capital  of  South  Chel-la  province. 

Chon-ju  The  Chun-ju  and  Kun-san  station  fields  each 

have  an  estimated  population  of  500,000,  while 
Mokpo-Kwang-ju  has  1,000,000.  The  Southern 
Presbyterians  are  therefore  seeking  to  reach 
two  millions  of  the  population  of  Korea.  There 
are  27  missionaries,  including  wives,  all  dis- 
tributed among  the  three  stations  mentioned, 
except  one  family  in  Seoul,  and  75  native 
helpers.  No  organized  churches  are  reported, 
but  work  is  regularly  conducted  at  140  dif- 
ferent places  ;  991  communicants  are  enrolled, 


MISSIONARY  WOEK  301 

besides  8410  adherents ;  22  Sunday-schools 
have  a  membership  of  1390.  There  are  no 
boarding  or  high  schools,  but  there  are  18  day 
schools  with  381  pupils.  Sixteen  of  the  schools 
are  entirely  self-supporting.  Yen  4176  were 
raised  on  the  field,  and  12,234  patients  were 
treated  by  the  physicians  of  the  mission  at  the 
Kun-san  hospital  and  the  Chun-ju  and  Mokpo 
dispensaries. 

The  Southern  Methodist  Church  also  has  an 
excellent  work  in  Korea,  though  it  is  not  as 
large  as  that  of  the  Northern  Methodists.  It 
originated  in  1895,  when  Bishop  E.  R.  Hendrix 
and  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Reed  visited  Korea.  The 
mission  was  not  formally  opened  until  the  next 
year,  but  from  that  time  the  work  has  been 
vigorously  prosecuted  from  three  strategic  cen- 
tres, Seoul,  Wonsan,  and  Song-do. 

A  fine  illustration  of  comity  occurred  at  Won-  illustration 
san  in  1901.  The  Northern  Methodists,  who  of  Comity 
had  opened  a  station  there  in  1892,  transferred 
it  to  their  Southern  brethren,  as  the  latter  had 
been  in  the  field  first  and  it  was  deemed  unnec- 
essary for  both  churches  to  occupy  it.  As  these 
pages  are  written,  word  comes  that  the  Board 
has  secured  a  tract  of  72  acres  for  a  new  com- 
pound at  Song-do  and  that  it  will  erect  build- 
ings for  academic  and  industrial  schools,  a  hos- 
pital, and  five  residences,  the  total  cost  to  be 
$35,000.  This  will  give  a  fine  equipment  at 
this  important  centre. 

All  together  the  Southern  Methodists  have  15 
missionaries,  including  seven  wives,  40  native 


302 


KOEEA 


Results 


Australian 
work 


Canadian 
Presby- 
terians 


workers,  one  college  (Song-do),  four  day- 
schools,  and  one  dispensary  (Wonsan).  The 
dispensary  treated  last  year  4056  patients. 
The  number  of  converts  increased  from  759  in 
1905  to  1227  in  1906,  a  net  gain  of  nearly  sixty- 
two  per  cent,  besides  1694  probationers  who  were 
receiving  instruction  preparatory  to  church 
membership.  "The  people  are  turning  to 
Christ  as  I  have  never  seen  in  any  field,"  writes 
Bishop  Candler. 

A  ustralian  Presbyterian  work  centres  in  Fusan. 
It  was  founded  in  1889  by  the  Rev.  John  H.  Da- 
vies  and  his  sister.  Other  missionaries  followed 
them,  and  a  considerable  work  has  developed, 
though  practically  all  of  it  is  conducted  from 
this  port.  There  is  not  a  large  local  popula- 
tion, but  the  country  districts  are  thickly  settled. 
The  population  of  the  province  is  estimated  at 
about  750,000.  The  outlying  field  has  been 
happily  divided  with  the  American  Presbyteri- 
ans, the  latter  taking  the  region  north  and  west 
of  Fusan  and  the  Australians  the  region  along 
the  east  coast.  Including  both  missions,  organ- 
ized work  is  conducted  in  fourteen  counties  of 
the  thirty  in  the  province. 

The  Canadian  Presbyterians  were  first  inter- 
ested in  Korea  by  the  heroic  and  devoted  W. 
J.  McKenzie,  who  was  stirred  by  reading  Dr. 
Griffis's  "  Korea,  the  Hermit  Nation,"  in  1888, 
and  who  in  1893  went  to  Korea  under  the  sup- 
port of  his  university.  His  sad  death  two  years 
later,  in  the  delirium  of  typhoid  fever,  touched 
all  hearts.  It  was  not  until  1897  that  the  Gen- 


MISSIONARY   WORK  303 

eral  Assembly  felt  that  the  way  was  clear  to 
found  a  mission,  and  September  8  of  the  follow- 
ing year  three  missionaries  reached  Seoul.  After 
consultation  with  the  Council  of  Missions,  th»? 
province  of  Ham  Gyong  on  the  northeast  coasu 
was  agreed  upon  as  the  field  of  the  Canadian 
Presbyterians.  Central  stations  are  now  main- 
tained at  Wonsan,  Han-heung,  and  Song-chen, 
while  evangelistic  work  is  regularly  conducted 
at  47  places.  There  are  14  missionaries,  in- 
cluding wives,  11  schools,  three  organized 
churches,  644  communicants,  besides  552  per- 
sons under  instruction. 

The  Plymouth  Brethren  have  a  family  doing  other 
itinerating  evangelistic  work  from  Seoul.  A  Workers 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  was  estab- 
lished in  1900  in  Seoul,  and  is  doing  excellent 
work  under  the  leadership  of  an  American  sec- 
retary, Mr.  Philip  L.  Gillett.  The  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society,  the  American  Bible  So- 
ciety, and  the  National  Bible  Society  of  Scot- 
land unite  in  the  support  of  the  work  in  Korea, 
the  Scotch  Society  paying  one-fifth  the  cost  of 
translations  and  the  other  Societies  two-fifths 
each. 

An  undenominational  Home  for  Destitute 
Children,  outside  the  wall  at  Seoul,  is  main- 
tained by  a  local  board  of  directors,  chiefly 
missionaries,  and  cares  lovingly  for  many  little 
ones.  The  property  was  secured  by  Dr.  Under- 
wood, and  the  resident  matron  is  Miss  Perry, 
formerly  a  missionary  of  the  Australian  Pres- 
byterian Church. 


304  KOREA 

Unity  The  spirit  of  unity  which  pervades  the  mis- 

mrkers  sionaries  of  most  of  the  churches  is  a  delightful 
feature  of  the  work.  The  Northern,  Southern, 
Canadian,  and  Australian  Presbyterians  early 
associated  themselves  in  the  development  of  a 
union  Presbyterian  Church  in  Korea.  Up  to 
1907  the  governing  body  was  the  Presbyterian 
Council,  which  was  composed  of  representatives 
of  all  the  Presbyterian  missions.  In  that  year, 
however,  an  independent  Presbyterian  Church 
was  formally  constituted  with  the  approval  of 
the  respective  General  Assemblies  of  the  home 
churches. 

Nor  did  union  stop  with  Presbyterians.  An 
Evangelical  Council  of  Missions  was  organized 
in  1904,  which  included  the  four  Presbyterian 
bodies  mentioned  above  and  the  Northern  and 
Southern  Methodists.  This  Council  meets  an- 
nually, and  exerts  large  influence  in  unifying 
the  work.  One  of  its  beneficent  results  is  the 
readjustment  of  boundary  lines,  so  as  to  pre- 
vent overlapping  of  fields  and  churches.  The 
latest  instance  of  this  was  the  amicable  agree- 
ment regarding  division  of  territory  between 
the  Northern  Presbyterians  and  Southern  Pres- 
byterians in  the  fall  of  1907. 

Training  Training  classes  for  Christian  workers  have 

Classes  come  to  be  a  characteristic  feature  of  mission 
work  in  Korea.  The  classes  usually  last  from 
ten  to  fourteen  days  and  are  held  at  the  stations, 
though  smaller  ones  led  by  native  helpers  are 
conducted  at  some  of  the  out-stations.  Pyeng 
Yang  has  become  famous  for  its  large  classes, 


MISSIONARY  WORK  305 

the  number  attending  often  exceeding  1000. 
About  500  Korean  workers  cooperated  with 
the  missionaries  in  holding  classes  last  year  at 
250  different  places  in  northern  Korea,  the  at- 
tendance being  over  12,000.  It  is  not  uncom- 
mon for  Koreans  to  walk  more  than  a  hundred 
miles,  bringing  their  own  food  with  them,  to 
attend  these  classes,  and  -some  have  journeyed 
as  far  as  300  miles.  Then  these  eager  Chris- 
tians go  back  to  do  personal  evangelistic  work 
in  their  villages.  There  is  something  inspiring 
in  the  contemplation  of  such  devotion,  and  it 
accounts  in  no  small  measure  for  the  splendid 
success  of  the  missionary  movement  in  Korea. 

The  missionaries  find  results  multiplying  with  Overtaxed 
such  rapidity  that  they  are  overworked  in  the  Workers 
effort  to  organize  and  superintend  them.  Every 
missionary  assigned  to  evangelistic  work  is  vir- 
tually a  bishop  of  an  extensive  diocese,  and  is 
obliged  to  toil  and  travel  almost  incessantly  in 
order  to  keep  any  kind  of  oversight  of  his  nu- 
merous and  scattered  out-stations.  Over  15,000 
children  are  attending  mission  schools,  but  prac- 
tically all  of  them  are  from  Christian  homes, 
not  only  because  the  missionaries  feel  that  this 
is  a  wise  policy,  but  because  such  children  are 
so  numerous  that  they  tax  the  school  facilities 
which  can  be  provided.  Hardly  any  attempt 
has  been  made  to  recruit  pupils  from  the  non- 
Christian  population. 

The  following  causes  may  be  indicated  to 
account  for  the  rapid  spread  of  the  Gospel  in 
Korea  :  — 


306  KOREA 

Causes  for         First :  Koreans  are  naturally  more  docile  and 

Success         affectionate  than  Chinese  and  Japanese,  so  that 

it  is   easier  to  make  an  impression  on  them. 

Second  :  Politically  small  and  weak  in  com- 
parison with  the  mighty  Powers  about  them, 
the  Koreans  have  become  accustomed  to  being 
led  from  the  outside.  There  are,  therefore,  less 
national  pride  arid  prejudice  to  be  overcome 
than  in  China  and  Japan. 

Third  :  While  ancestral  and  demon  worship 
are  formidable  obstacles,  there  is  no  powerful 
State  religion,  as  in  most  other  non-Christian 
lands. 

Fourth  :  Poverty,  oppression,  and  distress 
have  begotten  a  longing  for  relief  and  a  hope 
that  the  missionary  can  secure  it  for  them. 

Fifth  :  The  fidelity  and  sympathy  which  the 
missionaries  manifested  during  the  Chino- Japan- 
ese and  Russo-Japanese  wars. 

Sixth  :  The  favor  of  the  court.  When,  after 
the  murder  of  the  Queen,  the  terrified  Emperor 
expected  his  own  assassination,  he  found  coun- 
sel and  moral  support  in  three  missionaries. 
He  frequently  expressed  his  appreciation  of 
their  fidelity  in  his  hour  of  peril.  His  favor 
meant  no  spiritual  help,  but  the  imperial  smile 
counts  for  much  in  an  Oriental  country. 

These  conditions  created  a  state  of  receptivity 
in  the  public  mind,  and  unquestionably  in  them 
the  Holy  Spirit  prepared  the  soil  for  the  plant- 
ing of  the  Gospel  seed.  As  compared  with 
China,  Korea  was  like  a  western  prairie,  ready 
for  the  plough  of  the  husbandman  ;  while  the 


MISSIONARY  WOEK  307 

vaster,  prouder,  more  stubborn,  phlegmatic,  and 
self-satisfied  population  of  the  Celestial  Empire 
was  like  the  densely  forested  land  of  the  East- 
ern seaboard,  on  which  weary  years  of  toil  had 
to  be  spent  in  hewing  down  the  wilderness, 
uprooting  gigantic  stumps,  and  gathering  out 
the  stones.  Comparisons  are,  therefore,  unfair. 
Conditions  independent  of  the  missionary  have 
made  the  task  of  evangelization  less  difficult  in 
one  field  than  in  the  other. 

And  yet  it  would  be  wrong  to  give  the  im-  obstacles 
pression  that  there  are  no  obstacles  to  be  en- 
countered in  Korea.  It  is  not  easy  to  convert 
any  heathen  nation.  Indolence,  superstition, 
dirt,  the  apathy  of  despair,  the  jealousy  of  the 
literary  class,  the  demoralizing  example  of 
officials,  the  antagonism  of  a  powerful  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  —  all  these  heavily  reenf orce 
the  ever-present  influences  of  the  world,  the 
flesh,  and  the  devil.  The  human  heart  is  not 
any  more  prone  to  spiritual  things  in  Korea 
than  elsewhere. 

The  special  credit  of  the  missionaries  is  that 
they  have  been  wise  and  faithful  in  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the  land. 
Coming,  in  the  providence  of  God,  in  "the 
fulness  of  the  time,"  they  discerned  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  hour.  It  was  not  necessary  to  be- 
gin with  schools,  as  in  some  Moslem  lands. 
Korea  was  ready  for  the  direct  preaching  of  the 
Gospel,  and  to  that  preaching  the  missionaries 
gave  themselves  with  unceasing  zeal.  There- 
fore emphasis  as  a  cause  should  be  placed  on  :  — 


308  KOEEA 

Self-support  Seventh :  Insistence  by  the  missionaries,  from 
the  first,  on  the  duty  of  self-support  and  self- 
propagation.  As  soon  as  converts  appeared, 
they  were  required  to  give  according  to  their 
ability  and  to  be  messengers  of  Christ  to  their 
own  people  without  pay  from  the  foreigner. 
They  gladly  obeyed.  The  Koreans  now  sup- 
port a  large  majority  of  their  native  leaders, 
churches,  and  day-schools.  They  contribute  as 
much  per  capita  in  amount  as  Americans  give 
to  foreign  missions,  and  in  effect  they  give 
many  times  more,  for  an  American  believer  is 
far  better  off  than  these  poverty-stricken  Ori- 
entals. They  preach  as  willingly  as  they  give, 
first  scores  and  then  hundreds  and  now  tens 
of  thousands  of  believers  joyfully  proclaiming 
Christ  to  their  neighbors  and  friends.  Indeed, 
the  chief  work  of  direct  evangelization  is  now 
ardently  done  by  the  Koreans  themselves.  Not 
only  the  appointed  leaders  but  the  Christians 
generally  seek  earnestly  for  souls.  Willingness 
to  try  to  lead  others  to  Christ  is  deemed  a  test 
of  fitness  for  church  membership.  Thus  the 
Korean  churches  are  to  a  remarkable  degree 
working  evangelistic  bodies. 

Koreans  If  any  one  feature  of  the  Korean  method 

needs  to  be  heralded  as  an  example  to  Chris- 
tians both  at  home  and  abroad,  it  is  this  —  the 
duty  and  privilege  of  the  individual  disciple  to 
witness  for  Christ  without  depending  upon  his 
pastor  to  do  it  for  him  and  without  expectation 
of  financial  reward,  but  living  and  teaching  the 
Gospel  in  the  sphere  of  life  in  which  he  was 


our 
Example 


MISSIONARY  WORK  309 

before,  and  in  the  occupation  which  he  already 
followed.  And  God  has  wonderfully  blessed 
the  ministry  of  His  servants.  "  With  great 
power  give  they  witness  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  and  great  grace  is  upon  them  all !  " 

I  asked  the  leaders  of  the  Korean  Christians  What 
in  several  conferences,  "  What  is  it  in  Chris-  |VPPeals  to 
tianity  that  particularly  appeals  to  the  Korean 
mind  ? "  The  answers  naturally  varied,  but 
the  ones  most  frequently  recurring  were,  "  sal- 
vation," "  joy."  The  poor  Koreans  were  living 
in  wretchedness  and  despair,  oppressed,  poverty- 
stricken,  literally  "having  no  hope  and  with- 
out God  in  the  world,"  knowing  nothing  of 
anything  better,  but  knowing  well  their  own 
bitterness  and  sorrow.  Suddenly,  they  heard 
the  clear,  sweet  invitation  of  the  Gospel,  tell- 
ing them  of  pardon,  deliverance,  and  peace. 
Eagerly  and  trustfully  as  children  they  came 
and  found  rest  for  their  souls.  Nowhere  else 
in  the  world  to-day  is  there  a  more  marked 
illustration  of  the  preparation  of  the  soil  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  the  inherent  vitality  of  the 
truth,  the  joy  of  the  believer  in  Christ  and  the 
value  of  personal  work  for  souls.  Many  a  time, 
as  I  studied  the  movement,  it  seemed  to  me 
that  the  Son  of  Man  was  again  walking  upon 
earth  and  calling  to  lowly  men,  "  Follow  me," 
and  that  again  men  were  "straightway  "  leaving 
all  and  following  Him.  As  I  sat  in  the  lowly 
chapels  and  communed  with  them,  I  saw  how 
the  Gospel  had  enlightened  their  hearts  and 
how  their  once  joyless  lives  now  centred  in 


310 


KOEEA 


Our  First 
Meeting 


Korean 
Song 


the  Church  of  God  which  gave  them  their  only 
light  and  peace. 

Our  first  meeting  with  the  Korean  Christians 
in  Fusan  will  not  soon  be  forgotten.  After  a 
felicitous  address  of  welcome  by  one  of  the  Ko- 
reans, a  hundred  voices  rose  in  a  song  of  praise. 
Such  congregational  singing  !  It  was  so  hearty 
and  yet  so  truly  worshipful  that  it  was  a  physi- 
cal and  spiritual  tonic.  But  not  a  line  could  I 
understand,  till  suddenly  I  caught  the  words, 
"Jesus,  Hallelujah."  There  being  no  Korean 
equivalents  for  them,  the  missionaries  had 
taught  the  people  to  use  the  terms  so  familiar 
to  us.  We  could  have  had  no  more  inspiring 
theme,  and  so  we  preached  on  the  meaning  of 
"  Jesus,  Hallelujah." 

Our  experience  in  Fusan  was  repeated  many 
times  in  other  places.  A  stranger  in  a  strange 
land  enters  a  room  filled  with  strange  people, 
who  greet  him  in  a  strange  tongue  and  then 
begin  to  sing  a  strange  tune.  The  voices  were 
not  always  melodious  nor  did  they  always  keep 
the  key.  But  the  singing  plainly  voiced  the 
aspirations  of  a  fervent  and  genuine  spiritual 
experience.  The  Koreans  sing  as  they  pray, 
with  all  their  hearts.  Unfamiliar  as  the  lan- 
guage is,  the  visitor  is  thrilled  by  the  exultant 
ring  of  a  living,  joyous  faith. 

I  have  since  journeyed  far  and  have  seen 
many  places  and  peoples.  But  there  still  lives 
to  my  vision  the  humble  chapels  on  those  Ko- 
rean hills,  with  worshipping  Koreans  sitting, 
Oriental  fashion,  on  the  floor.  I  can  see  their 


MISSIONARY  WOEK  311 

faces  light  up  as  I  spoke  to  them  of  Jesus  as 
our  revelation  of  the  love  of  God,  Jesus  as  our 
Saviour  from  sin,  Jesus  as  our  Friend  and  King, 
Jesus  as  the  Giver  of  such  peace  and  joy  that 
there  is  no  word  so  appropriate  for  the  true 
disciples  as  "  Hallelujah."  Even  as  I  write,  I 
seem  to  hear  the  unison  of  those  eager  voices 
as,  in  glad  response  to  my  closing  request,  they 
joined  me  in  repeating  the  words,  "Jesus, 
Hallelujah,"  and  then  with  the  reverent  peti- 
tion of  their  leader  as  he  prayed  for  us  all, 
while  the  white-robed  worshippers  bowed  with 
their  faces  to  the  floor. 

A  visit  to  Korea  is  a  tonic  to  faith.  As  one  A  Tonic  to 
journeys  through  the  country,  facing  crowds  of  Faith 
Christians  from  Fusan  to  Pyeng  Yang,  it  is 
difficult  to  realize  that  Protestant  missions  in 
Korea  date  only  from  1884,  and  that  the  great 
host  of  communicants  and  adherents  in  the 
Pyeng  Yang  field  alone  began  with  the  baptism 
of  a  handful  of  men  in  January,  1894.  "Is 
it  genuinely  spiritual  ?  "  "  Will  it  be  perma- 
nent ?  "  some  are  asking.  Well,  a  willingness 
to  support  their  own  work  without  dependence 
upon  the  foreigner's  money,  an  eagerness  to 
extend  the  Gospel  to  their  countrymen,  a  per- 
sistence in  Christian  fidelity  when  left  without 
missionary  supervision,  a  patient  endurance  of 
persecution,  an  extraordinary  growth  which, 
after  fourteen  years,  shows  no  sign  of  abating, 
but  on  the  contrary  is  becoming  more  and  more 
extraordinary,  —  these  are  surely  encouraging 
indications  of  genuineness  and  stability. 


312  KOREA 

An  Mr.   John   R.   Mott,  who   visited   Korea   in 

1907>  declares  that  iij  bids  fair  to  be  the  first 
of  the  non-Christian  lands  to  be  evangelized; 
and  Mr.  William  T.  Ellis,  the  newspaper  cor- 
respondent, wrote  at  the  close  of  his  journey :  — 

"  Cannot  you  say  something  or  do  something  to  make 
the  Church  in  America  realize  that  here  in  Korea  just 
now  is  the  Christian  opportunity  of  centuries?  This 
situation  is  extraordinary  and  amazing.  The  whole 
country  is  fruit  ripe  for  the  picking.  The  Koreans 
are  ready  to  turn  to  the  Living  God.  If  the  Christian 
Church  has  any  conception  of  strategy  and  appreciation 
of  an  opportunity,  and  any  sense  of  relative  values,  she 
will  act  at  once  —  not  next  year,  but  NOW  !  " 


HELPS  FOR  LEADERS 

ON  CHAPTERS  V,  VI,  AND  VII 

SI  AM 
Lesson  Aim : 

To  give  a  general  view  of  the  missionary  environment 
and  the  problem  of  reaching  diverse  races  with  the  one 
Gospel. 

Scripture  Lesson : 
Mark  16  : 15-20 ;    Ephes.  5  :  8-21. 

Suggestive  Questions : 

1.  What  is  the  area  and  population  of  Siam  as  com- 
pared with  New  England? 

2.  What  commercial  products  are  exported  to  Europe 
and  America? 

3.  Make  a  paper  model  of  a  Siamese  house. 

4.  In  what  languages  is  the  Bible  found  at  the  Bible 
depot  in  Bangkok  ? 

5.  Describe  the  religion  of  Siam  before  the  advent  of 
Buddhism. 

6.  Mention  some  superstitions  prevalent  to-day. 

7.  What  is  the  total  Moslem  population  of  Siam  ? 

8.  What  effect  has  gambling,  the  characteristic  vice 
of  Siam,  had  upon  the  character  of  the  people? 

9.  Sketch  the  life  of  Gautama  Buddha. 

10.  Make  a  table  of  special  difficulties  and  special  en- 
couragements in  this  field. 

Bibliography : 

Campbell,  J.  G.  D.,  —  Siam  in  the  Twentieth  Century. 
Carter,  A.  Cecil,  M.A.,  —  Kingdom  of  Siam. 
313 


314  HELPS  FOR  LEADERS 

Curtis,  Lillian  Johnson,  —  The  Laos  of  North  Siam. 

Fleeson,  Katherine  Neville,  —  Laos  Folk-Lore  of 
Farther  India. 

Hallett,  H.  S.,  —  A  Thousand  Miles  on  an  Elephant  in 
the  Shan  States. 

Siam  and  Laos  as  Seen  by  our  American  Missionaries. 


BURMA 
Lesson  Aim : 

To  give  a  general  view  of  the  land,  the  people,  their 
rulers,  and  their  religion  in  relation  to  missions ;  or  what 
Buddhism  did  for  Burma  and  what  Christianity  is  doing 
now  for  this  country. 

Scripture  Lesson : 

Isa.  55 ;  Matt.  13  : 1-9. 

Suggestive  Questions : 

1.  Indicate  by  color  on  an  outline  map  of  Asia  the 
extent  of  British  rule  and  the  strategic  importance  of 
Burma. 

2.  What  is  the  daily  life  of  a  mendicant? 

3.  When  did  Buddhism  enter  Burma? 

4.  What  teachings  of  the  Gospel  are  special  stum- 
bling-blocks to  the  sincere  Buddhist  ? 

5.  Write   a    review  of    Edwin   Arnold's   "Light  of 
Asia." 

6.  Describe  the  "  Wheel  of  Life."    (See  Rhys  Davids's 
"Buddhism.") 

7.  Write  a  character  sketch  of  Dr.  Judson. 

8.  Of  Ko  Tha  Byu. 

9.  What  are  the  present  missionary  problems? 

10.  Show  the  possibility  of  completing  the  work  of 
evangelization  in  Burma  in  terms  of  men  and  money. 


HELPS  FOR  LEADERS  315 

Bibliography : 

Cochrane,  Henry  Park,  —  Among  the  Burmans. 

Curtis,  William  Eleroy,  —  Egypt,  Burma  and  British 
Malaysia. 

Griggs,  W.  C.,  —  Odds  and  Ends  from  Pagoda 
Land. 

Judson,  Edward,  —  Life  of  Adoniram  Judson. 

Willson,  A.  M.,  —  Lives  of  Mrs.  Ann  H.  Judson,  Sarah 
B.  Judson,  and  Mrs.  Emily  C.  Judson. 

Smith,  Julius,  —  Ten  Years  in  Burma. 

Brockett,  L.  P.,  —  Story  of  the  Karen  Mission  in  Bassein. 


KOREA 
Lesson  Aim : 

To  show  the  possibility  of  evangelizing  a  land  in  one 
generation.     The  power  of  a  supernatural  Gospel. 

Scripture  Lesson : 
Acts  2  : 1-5  ;  43-47. 

Suggestive  Questions : 

1.  Why  called  the  Hermit  Nation? 

2.  What    is    demon-worship?      Shamanism?      (Mrs. 
Bishop's  "  Korea  and  her  Neighbors.") 

3.  Describe  Korean  marriage  customs. 

4.  Which  of  Korea's  neighbors   has  had  the  largest 
influence  on  her  history? 

5.  Discussion    whether    Japanese   rule    has   been    of 
benefit  to  Korea. 

6.  Compare    the   Pyeng  Yang  revival  with   that   in 
Wales  as  to  character  and  results. 

7.  What  Christian  literature  is  there  for  Koreans  in 
their  own  language? 

8.  What  are  the  dangers  of  too  rapid  evangelization 
in  Korea? 


316  HELPS    FOR    LEADERS 

9.  What    place    do  women    occupy  in  the  Korean 
church  ? 

10.  Show  the  location  of  every  station  and  preaching 
place  on  the  map  of  Korea. 

Bibliography : 

Bishop,  Mrs.  Isabella  Bird,  —  Korea  and  her  Neighbors. 

Gale,  James  S.,  D.D., —  Korean  Sketches. 

Gale,  James  S.,  B.D., —  The  Vanguard. 

Griffis,  Kev.  William  Elliott,  —  Corea :  The  Hermit 
Nation. 

Hulbert,  H.  B.,  —  The  Passing  of  Korea. 

Underwood,  L.  H.,  —  Fifteen  Years  among  the  Top- 
knots. 

Underwood,  Horace  G.,  —  The  Call  of  Korea. 

Jones,  G.  H.,  —  Korea :  The  Land,  People,  and  Customs. 


GENERAL   INDEX 


Abbott,  Rev.  E.  L.,  244. 

Abdul  Hamid,  8. 

Abeel,  Rev.  David,  182. 

Abraham,  1. 

Abu  Hanifa,  41. 

Adams,  Rev.  James  E.,  293. 

Adamson,  Dr.  H.,  185. 

Aden,  95. 

Afghanistan,  7,  59;  popula- 
tion of,  124. 

Africa,  3,  7,  118;  Islam  in,  3; 
Moslems  in,  57;  West,  52, 
118;  Central,  72,  96 ;  North, 
74,  77,  85 ;  North,  spread  of 
Islam  in,  85 ;  Mohammedan 
population  of,  114. 

Ahreyah  Mettai,  206. 

Algeciras  Conference,  60. 

Algeria,  88. 

Al-Ghazali,  48. 

Algiers,  8,  142. 

Allah,  14,  41,  46. 

Allen,  Dr.  H.  N.,  278. 

Alms,  legal,  27. 

American  Baptist  Missionary 
Union,  184,  224;  discour- 
agements of,  184;  closing 
of  mission  of,  185;  results 
of  work  of,  in  Siam,  185. 

American  Bible  Society,  194, 
303. 

American  Board,  92. 

American  Missionary  Associa- 
tion, 183. 

Amulets,  62. 

Animists,  224. 

Antichrist,  21. 

Appenzeller,  Rev.  H.  G.,  280. 


Arabia,  4,  7,  27,  54 ;  cradle  of 
Islam,  94;  population  of, 
95,  126;  neglected,  126. 

Arabian  Mission,  Reformed 
Church  in  America,  97,  126. 

Arabic,  6,  58,  101 ;  sacred 
language  of  Moslems,  6. 

Arabs,  30,  43. 

Armstrong,  Rev.  W.  F.,  250. 

Arrakan,  222. 

Ashmore,  William,  186. 

Asia :  Moslems  in,  4 ;  unoc- 
cupied fields  of,  122. 

Asia  Minor,  4,  8. 

Assam,  222. 

Australian  Baptist  Mission, 
101. 

Ava,  240. 

Ayuthia,  ancient  capital  of 
*Siam,  176. 

Bab,  the,  98. 

Bagdad,  126. 

Bahrein,  63,  97. 

Baluchistan,  8 ;  Moslem  popu- 
lation of,  125. 

Bangkok,  160,  174;  mission 
institutions  in,  193. 

Baptists,  American,  in  Burma, 
238. 

Barrett,  Hon.  John,  203. 

Bassein,  221. 

Beach,  Professor,  116. 

Bedouin,  31. 

Beecher,  Rev.  E.  H.,  244. 

Behaism,  98. 

Beit  Allah,  3. 

Bengal,  5. 


317 


318 


INDEX 


Bennett,  Mrs.  Jessie  Vail,  98. 

Bhamo,  221. 

Bible,  25,  199;  translations 
of,  6,  238. 

Binney,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  G.,  251. 

Bishop,  Mrs.  Isabella  Bird,  38. 

Bixby,  Rev.  Moses  H.,  247. 

Black  Stone,  1,  3. 

Blyden,  Dr.,  37. 

Boardman,  Mrs.  Sarah  Hall, 
242. 

Bokhara,  Moslem  population 
of,  127. 

Boon  Itt,  Rev.,  194. 

Bradley,  Dr.  Daniel  B.,  183. 

Briggs,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  W.  A., 
198. 

British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society,  224,  303. 

British  rule,  8,  58,  180,  223. 

Bronson,  Rev.  Dr.  Dillon,  227. 

Brooke,  Sir  James,  188. 

Bruce,  Rev.  Robert,  D.D.,  99. 

Buddha,  175. 

Buddhism,  state  religion  of 
Siam,  202,  246. 

Buddhist,  first,  to  accept 
Christ,  239. 

Bugia,  78. 

Burckhardt,  51. 

Burma  :  area  of,  211 ;  climate 
of,  211 ;  physical  features 
of,  211 ;  country  without 
caste,  213 ;  population  of, 
213 ;  government  of,  221 ; 
Upper,  annexation  of,  223 ; 
religions  of,  224;  progress 
of  missions  in,  229 ;  medical 
missions  in,  252;  a  hopeful 
field,  255. 

Burmans :  characteristics  of, 
213 ;  custom  law  of  life, 
214;  vices  of,  215;  work 
among,  difficult,  246. 

Burton,  45. 

Bush,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Stephen, 
187. 

Busrah,  97. 


Cairo,  literary  capital  of  Islam, 

90. 

Cairo  Conference,  115. 
Cairo  Universit}*-,  56. 
Cambodia,  159. 
Canton,  166,  182. 
Carey,  72. 

Carpenter,  Rev.  C.  H.,  252. 
Carson,  Rev.  A.  E.,  248. 
Cartwright,  Rev.  S.  H.,  299. 
Celebes,  4. 
Chard,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  C.  H., 

231. 

Chieng  Hoong,  165. 
Chieng  Mai,  160,  168 ;  mission 

work  at,  199. 
Chieng  Rai,  177. 
China,  7,  72;    Moslems  in,  5, 

131 ;      Moslem     population 

of,  129. 

China  Inland  Mission,  225. 
Chinese  :  strongest  element  in 

Siam,      166  ;      in     Burma, 

218. 
Chins :      demon-worshippers, 

218;    converts  among,  248. 
Choi  Chei  Ou,  268. 
Christianity,  37,  74;   early,  in 

Arabia,  95. 
Christians :     in    Burma,    224 ; 

persecution    of,    in    Korea, 

283;   number  of,  in  Korea, 

290. 

Chubbuck,  Emily,  242. 
Chun-ju,  300. 
Church     Missionary    Society, 

90. 

Clarke,  James  Freeman,  14. 
Cockey,  Rev.  T.  A.,  229. 
Colbeck,  Rev.  James  A.,  230. 
Colman,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  239. 
Commissioners,  of   the  King, 

179. 

Confucianism,  269. 
Congo  Free  State,  3. 
Congregational  Mission  :  trials 

of,  182;    withdrawal  of,  to 

China,  182. 


INDEX 


319 


Constantinople,  political  capi- 
tal of  Mohammedan  world, 
90. 

Converts :  from  Islam,  97, 
105;  in  Siam,  200. 

Corfe,  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  John, 
D.D.,  298. 

Creed :  confession  of,  24 ; 
use  a  strength  to  Islam, 
25. 

Crofton,  Rev.  H.  W.,  230. 

Curtis,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  F.  S., 
294. 

Gushing,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  J.  N., 
247. 

Danish    Evangelical    Church, 

96. 
Darrow,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  A.  C., 

247. 

Davenport,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  184. 
Dean,  Dr.,  160. 
Dean,  Rev.  William,  184. 
Demon-worshippers,  218. 
Denman,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  C.  H., 

198. 

Denmark,  171. 
Divorce,  48. 
Dodd,  Mr.    and   Mrs.    W.    C., 

198. 
Dunlap,  Dr.,  201. 

East  India  Company,  221. 

East  Indians,  219. 

Ecumenical  Conference,  Cairo, 
91. 

Edmunds,  Miss  Margaret,  297. 

Egypt,  43,  51 ;  Moslem  popu- 
lation of,  89. 

El  Azhar,  Mohammedan  Uni- 
versity of,  56. 

Ellers,  Miss  Annie,  281. 

Ellis,  William  T.,  312. 

Emperor  of  Korea,  271. 

England,  171. 

Europe,  4. 

Evangelistic  Lutheran  Mission 
of  Leipzig,  224. 


Fasting,  month  of,  26. 
Fitzgerald,  Bishop,  227. 
Foochow,  166. 

Foote,  General  Lucius  H.,  278. 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  96. 
French,  Bishop,  75,  96. 
French  Sudan,  4. 
Fusan,  294,  302. 

Geis,  Rev.  George  J.,  249. 

Germany,  159. 

Glenn,  Dr.  William,  99. 

Gobat,  Samuel,  90. 

God :    books  of,   17 ;    Moslem 

idea   of,    14;    Mohammed's 

idea  of,  56. 
Goddard,  Josiah,  186. 
Gospel,  causes  for  rapid  spread 

of,  in  Korea,  306. 
Goucher,  Rev.  John  F.,  280. 
Gurney,  Rev.  W.  N.,  299. 
Gutzlaff,  Dr.,  181. 

Haas,  Frederick,  99. 

Hadramaut,  126. 

Hagar,  1. 

Hague,  International  Confer- 
ence, 272. 

Hainan,  166. 

Haka,  248. 

Hall,  Dr.  M.  J.,  282. 

Hall,  Dr.  Rosetta  Sherwood, 
297. 

Han-heung,  303. 

Harem,  evils  of,  46. 

Haswell,  Rev.  J.  M.,  247. 

Hausa-land,  119. 

Hegira,  10,  130. 

Hejaz,  62,  126. 

Hell,  Moslem,  23. 

Hemenway,  182. 

Henzada,  246. 

Heron,  Dr.  J.  W.,  279. 

Hinduism,  44. 

Hindus,  224. 

Hodeidah,  126. 

Horton,  Miss  Lillias,  281. 

House,  Dr.  Samuel  R.,  186. 


320 


INDEX 


Howard,  Dr.  Meta,  297. 

Hsipaw,  247. 

Humphrey,   Chaplain  W.  T., 

229. 
Hurgronje,  Dr.  C.  Snouck,  54. 

Illiteracy  of  Islam,  57. 

India,  8,  51,  113;  Moslem 
population  of,  5 ;  work  for 
Moslems  in,  100. 

Indies,  Dutch  East,  Moslems 
in,  102. 

International  Student  Federa- 
tion, 266. 

Irrawaddy,  211. 

Islam :  character  and  con- 
quests of,  1 ;  world-wide  re- 
ligion, 2,  10;  present  num- 
bers and  distribution  of,  3 ; 
literary  languages  of,  7 ; 
explanation  of  spread  of,  10 ; 
aggressive  religion,  11;  re- 
ligion without  caste,  12 ; 
doctrine  of  angels,  15; 
spirit  world,  15;  Day  of 
Judgment,  22 ;  philosophy 
of,  23 ;  predestination,  23  ; 
doctrine  of  fatalism,  24; 
religion  without  hope,  28; 
social  evils  of,  37;  low 
ethical  standard  of,  39 ; 
lack  of  truth  in,  40 ;  ethics 
of,  40;  sensuality  of,  44; 
illiteracy  of,  57;  traditions 
of,  60;  attitude  toward 
Christianity,  102 ;  strong- 
hold of,  115;  present  peril 
of,  118;  early  entrance  into 
China,  130;  peril  of,  not 
cause  for  discouragement, 
139 ;  disintegration  of,  140 ; 
in  Africa,  4 ;  in  Asia,  4 ;  in 
China,  5 ;  in  India,  5 ;  in 
the  Philippines,  5 ;  in  Rus- 
sia, 5;  in  Turkey,  59;  in 
Arabia,  94;  hi  Malaysia, 
103. 

Ito,  Marquis,  274. 


Jains,  224. 

Japan,  159;  attitude  toward 
Korea,  273. 

Java,   103;    converts  in,   106. 

Jessup,  Dr.,  72. 

Jesus  Christ,  20,  64,  74 ;  Mos- 
lem belief  concerning,  20; 
only  hope  for  Moslems,  64; 
regarded  as  second  Buddha, 
206. 

Jews,  53,  224;  societies  for 
the  conversion  of,  73. 

Jinn  (genii),  15;  belief  in,  uni- 
versal, 16. 

Johnson,  Dr.  W.  O.,  293. 

Jones,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  John  T., 
184. 

Jones,  Rev.  George  Heber, 
296. 

Judson,  Adoniram,  238;  im- 
prisonment of,  240;  hero- 
ism of,  241. 

Judson,  Mrs.  Ann  Hasseltine, 
181,  242. 

Kaaba,  1,  63. 

Kachins,  249 ;  demon-wor- 
shippers, 218. 

Kamil  Abd  El  Messiah,  97. 

Kansu,  5,  131. 

Karens,  216;  tribes  of,  216; 
work  among  the,  231. 

Keith  Falconer,  Ion,  95. 

Keith  Falconer  Mission,  126. 

Ke  Kan,  168. 

Keller,  74. 

Kerbela,  45. 

Khadijah,  50. 

Kim  Chang  Sik,  282. 

Kincaid,  Dr.,  249. 

King,  Hon.  Hamilton,  quoted, 
203. 

King  Mongkut,  178;  policy  of, 
result  of  missionary  influ- 
ence, 183. 

King  of  Siam,  absolute  mon- 
arch, 179 ;  enlightened  pol- 
icy of,  180. 


INDEX 


321 


Knight,  Bishop  A.  M.,  237. 

Koran,  13,  40,  44,  55;  inter- 
linear translations  of,  6 ; 
Arabic,  sealed  book  to  most 
Moslems,  6;  translation  of, 
not  permitted  in  China,  7; 
uncreated  and  eternal,  17; 
unintelligible  without  com- 
mentary, 18;  defects  of 
teaching,  19;  inferior  to 
sacred  books  of  other  na- 
tions, 19. 

Korat,  176. 

Korea  :  area  of,  259 ;  physical 
features  of,  259 ;  population 
of,  261;  language  in,  262; 
lack  of  sanitation  in,  263 ; 
religions  of,  269;  govern- 
ment of,  271 ;  period  of 
reconstruction  in,  275 ;  re- 
vival in,  285 ;  a  tonic  to 
faith,  311. 

Koreans  :  character  of,  262 ; 
peculiar  customs  of,  265. 

Ko  San  Ye  Movement,  245. 

Ko  Tha  Byu,  first  Karen  con- 
vert, 243. 

Kumm,  Dr.  Karl,  116. 

Kwallondong,  261. 

Lakawn,  177;  mission  work 
at,  199. 

Laos :  number  of,  in  Siam, 
165 ;  superior  to  Siamese 
in  intelligence,  165;  mis- 
sions in,  196;  persecution 
of  Christians  in,  197 ;  pres- 
ent status  of  work  in,  198 ; 
proclamation  of  religious 
liberty  to,  198  ;  a  promising 
mission  field,  205. 

Larsen,  Rev.  E.  John,  128. 

Lawrence,  Miss  E.,  254. 

Lee,  Rev.  Graham,  282. 

Leonard,  Dr.  A.  B.,  228. 

Levant,  43. 

Literature,  Mohammedan,  in 
China,  129. 


Livingstone,  David,  42,  121. 
London    Missionary    Society, 

181. 
Lull,   Raymund,   39,   76,   79; 

first  missionary  to  Moslems, 

76. 
Lyon,  Rev.  J.,  249. 

McFarland,  Rev.  S.  G.,  191. 
Mackay,  Alexander  M.,  96. 
McKenzie,  W.  J.,  302. 
Maclay,  Rev.  Robert  S.,  D.D., 

280. 

Me  Williams,  D.  W.,  277. 
Malay  Archipelago,  103. 
Mandalay,  212. 
Marks,  E.  J.,  229. 
Marriage  among  Moslems,  48, 

49. 

Martyn,  Henry,  76,  79,  83. 
Martyrdom  of  Lull,  79. 
Martyrs,  in  Laos,  197. 
Mattoon,  Rev.  Stephen,  186. 
Mecca,  1,  10,  45,  54,  63,  127; 

pilgrimage  to,  27 ;   religious 

capital  of  Islam,  90. 
Medina,  10,  28,  42,  127. 
Meinhof,  Professor  Carl,  119. 
Me  Kawng,  161. 
Me  Nam  River,  161. 
Merrick,  Rev.  J.  L.,  100. 
Merwa,  1. 
Methodist   Episcopal  Church, 

missionary  society  of,  224, 

228,  280. 
Methodist   mission,   southern, 

301. 

Miller,  Dr.  W.  R.,  4. 
Milman,  Bishop,  233. 
Mirza  Ibrahim,  100. 
Missionaries :     first,  to   Siam, 

appeal     of,     to     American 

churches,     181 ;      favorable 

testimony    regarding,    203 ; 

women,    254;     pioneer,    in 

Korea,  277. 
Missionary,  first,  to  Moslems, 

39,  76. 


322 


INDEX 


Missions:  medical,  141,  252, 
279 ;  pioneer,  difficulties 
of,  in  Siam,  188 ;  results  of, 
in  Siam,  200 ;  social  results 
of,  201 ;  obstacles  to,  in 
Siam,  204;  rapid  progress 
of,  among  Karens,  217. 

Missions  in  Korea :  effect  of 
war  on,  283. 

Missions  to  Moslems,  37,  71 ; 
difficulties  of,  135. 

Mizan-ul-Hak,  84. 

Moffett,  Rev.  Samuel  A., 
282. 

Mohammed,  2,  13,  17,  21,  30, 
41,  56,  95,  130;  an  exile, 
10;  quoted,  11;  names  of, 
20;  human  in  Koran,  21; 
of  tradition,  21 ;  violates 
his  own  law,  50. 

Mohammedan  Conference,  46. 

Mohammedan    population,    3. 

Mohammedan  University,  56, 
91. 

Mohammedan  world,  present 
accessibility  of,  9. 

Mohammedanism,  stronghold 
of,  3. 

Mohammedans,  in  Burma,  224. 

Mokpo,  300. 

Morocco,  7,  38,  87. 

Moslems :  Chinese,  3 ;  under 
Christian  rule,  7 ;  belief  of, 
12  ;  five  duties  of,  24 ;  mis- 
sions among,  37;  moral 
condition  of,  result  of  re- 
ligion, 38 ;  under  Christian 
rule,  54;  missions  to,  71; 
results  of  work  for,  101. 

Moslem  world,  governments 
of,  7. 

Mott,  John  R.,  312. 

Moulmein,  former  capital  of 
Burma,  220. 

Moung  Nau,  first  Buddhist 
convert,  239. 

Muir,  39,  41. 

Muscat,  75,  96. 


Nai  Chune,  first  convert  in 
Siam,  188. 

Nan  Inta,  197. 

Nasariyeh,  97. 

National  Bible  Society  of 
Scotland,  303. 

Needham,  Hester,  Saint  of 
Sumatra,  104. 

Nejd,  126. 

Netherlands  Missionary  So- 
ciety, 181. 

New  Testament,  277;  trans- 
lation of,  237. 

Noctong  River,  260. 

North  Africa  Mission,  87. 

Oman,  126. 

Omens,  61. 

O'Neal,  Mrs.  Charlotte,  226. 

Orr,  Rev.  R.  W.,  186. 

Paknam,  170. 

Pali  Manuscripts,  175. 

Pan-Islamic  movement,  11. 

Pan-Islamism,  142. 

Paradise,  Moslem,  23. 

Parsees,  224. 

Pease,  Mr.  George,  87. 

Peet,  182. 

Pegu,  221. 

Peoples,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  S.  C., 
198. 

Persia,  7,  43,  74;  missions  in, 
98;  Moslem  population  of, 
98. 

Petchaburi,  170. 

Pfander,  Karl  Gottlieb,  76, 
83. 

Philippines,  5,  166. 

Phya  Montri,  195. 

Pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  27. 

Pitsanuloke,  168. 

Plymouth  Brethren,  303. 

Polygamy,  41,  48,  172;  re- 
sults of,  45. 

Poole,  Stanley  Lane,  64. 

Prayer  :  Moslem,  1,  57 ;  direc- 
tion of,  26 ;  effect  nullified, 


INDEX 


323 


26;  five  proper  times  for, 
26;  importance  of  posture 
in,  26. 

Presbyterian  Board,  277 ;  sta- 
tions of,  in  Siam,  192. 

Presbyterian  Church  (North), 
92. 

Presbyterian  Mission,  186 ; 
Australian,  302;  Canadian, 
302. 

Price,  Dr.  Jonathan,  240. 

Prince  Devawongse,  172. 

Prince  Min  Yong  Ik,  280. 

Prome,  221,  231. 

Prophet,  50,  57. 

Prophets,  major  and  minor, 
19,  20. 

Protestant  Missions,  begin- 
nings of,  in  Siam,  181. 

Punjab,  Moslems  in,  5. 

Pyeng  Yang,  260,  282,  291; 
remarkable  success  of  work 
in,  285,  295. 

Pyinmana,  246. 

Raheng,  177. 

Rangoon,      219,      225,      238, 

253. 

Rangoon  Baptist  College,  252. 
Reformed  Church  in  America, 

97. 
Reformed  Presbyterian  Church, 

92. 
Reforms,  Japanese,  in  Korea, 

275. 

Reid,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  184. 
Rhenish    Missionary    Society, 

103. 

Richard,  Dr.  Timothy,  129. 
Riggs,  Dr.  Edward,  94. 
Roberts,  Rev.  W.  EL,  249. 
Robinson,  182. 
Roman       Catholic       Church, 

307. 

Ross,  Rev.  John,  277,  288. 
Russia  :  Moslems  in,  5 ;    Mos- 
lem population  of,  127. 
Russo-Japanese  War,  271. 


Safa,  1. 

St.  John's  College,  230. 

Salween,  river,  211. 

Saracen,  11. 

Sau  Kyung  Jo,  289. 

Schuck,  J.  L.,  186. 

Scranton,  Dr.  William  B.,  280. 

Scranton,  Mrs.  M.  F.,  297. 

Seoul,  261,  282;  institutional 
work  in,  291. 

Serampore,  181. 

Seward,  Hon.  George  F.,  202. 

Shamanism :  dominant  faith 
of  Koreans,  269;  super- 
stition of,  270. 

Shanghai,  202. 

Shans,  number  of,  in  Burma, 
217. 

Shears,  Rev.  A.,  229. 

Sheikh  Othman,  96. 

Shensi,  3,  131. 

Shrines,  270. 

Shwebo,  235. 

Shwe   Dagon  Pagoda,   219. 

Siam :  area  of,  159 ;  climate 
of,  160  ;  physical  geography 
of,  161;  'flora  of,  162; 
products  of,  162;  races  in, 
163;  population  of,  164; 
government  of,  177 ;  prog- 
ress of  mission  work  in,  191 ; 
promising  mission  field,  205 ; 
religious  expectation  in, 
206. 

Siamese :  physical  character- 
istics of,  164;  characteris- 
tics of,  167;  progressive 
character  of,  168;  desire 
for  education,  171 ;  vices  of, 
173 ;  indifference  of,  toward 
religion,  204. 

Sierra  Leone,  3. 

Sikhs,  224. 

Slavery,  52. 

Smith,  Dr.  George,  80. 

Smith,  Dr.  Eli,  93. 

Society,  unstable  foundation 
of,  in  Siam,  172. 


324 


INDEX 


Society  for  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel,  224,  229,  298;  re- 
sults of  work  of,  236. 

Song-chen,  303. 

Sorai,  288. 

Spain,  8. 

Speer,  Robert  E.,  49,  92. 

Sprenger,  39. 

Stanley,  121. 

Stevens,  Rev.  Dr.  E.  A.,  251. 

Stock,  Eugene,  76. 

Stockings,  Rev.  H.  M.,  235. 

Stone,  George  E.,  98. 

Strachan,  Rt.  Rev.  J.  M., 
236. 

Sudan,  116;  growth  of  Islam 
in,  116;  population  of,  116; 
Central,  120;  Central,  wo- 
men in,  120. 

Sudan  United  Mission,  119. 

Sumatra,  102;  converts  in, 
105. 

Swatow,  166. 

Swedish  Missionary  Society, 
133. 

Syen  Chyun,  293. 

Syria,  8/43. 

Taiku,  261,  293. 

Tai-ping  Rebellion,  268. 

Talaings  (Mons),  217. 

Talains,  247. 

Talismans,  61. 

Taoism,  268. 

Tarburi,  177. 

Tavoy,  246. 

Taylor,  Canon,  37. 

Teheran,  100. 

Telang,  Mr.  Justice,  46. 

Tenasserim,  222. 

Thandang,  227. 

Thibaw,  222. 

Thoburn,    Bishop    James   M., 

225. 

Thomas,  Mrs.  B.  C.,  248. 
Thorns,  Dr.  Marion  Wells,  98. 
Thonze,  246. 
Tibet,  213. 


Tisdall,  Dr.  St.  Clair,  42. 

Titcomb,  Bishop,  232. 

Tobolsk,  3. 

Tomliii,  Rev.  Jacob,  181. 

Tong-hak  Movement,  268. 

Toungoo,  231. 

Tradition,  Moslem,  41. 

Traditions,  of  Karens,  216. 

Tripoli,  7,  8,  54. 

Trotter,  Miss  Lillian  L., quoted, 

142. 

Tunis,  8,  88. 
Turkestan,  4,  8,  132. 
Turkey,  43,  59,  72. 
Turkish  Empire,  missions  in, 

92. 
Turner,  Bishop  H.  B.,  298. 

Uganda,  200. 

Underwood,  Rev.  H.  G.,  279. 

United  States,  171. 

Unoccupied  fields,  113,  117. 

Urumia,  100. 

Utradit,  165. 

Van     Dyck,     Dr.     Cornelius, 

93. 
Veil,  use  of,  unknown  before 

Mohammed,  46. 
Victoria,  Queen,  233. 
Vinton,  Dr.  J.  H.,  244. 

Wade,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  240. 

Wahab  bin  Kabsh,  130. 

Wahabi  revival,  11. 

War :  Burman,  240 ;  Russo- 
Japanese,  271. 

Warne,  Bishop,  228. 

Warner,  Miss  Ellen,  226. 

Warren,  Rev.  C.,  231. 

Watson,   Rev.  Charles  R.,  4. 

Wesleyan  Methodist  Mission- 
ary Society,  224. 

Wheelock,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  239. 

Wiersum,  Harry,  98. 

Wilson,  Rev.  Jonathan,  196. 

Winston,  Rev.  W.  R.,  225. 

Wolf,  Dr.  Joseph,  100. 


INDEX 


325 


Women :  degradation  of,  un- 
der Islam,  46,  48 ;  compara- 
tive freedom  of,  in  Burma, 
215;  position  of,  in  Korea, 
264;  work  for,  in  Korea, 
297. 

Won-san,  261,  303. 

Wurz,  Pastor  F.,  quoted, 
119. 

Yemen,  63. 
Yi  Heni,  271. 


Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, 225,  303. 

Young  Women's  Christian 
Association,  225. 

Yunnan,  5,  131. 


Zainab,  44. 

Zanzibar,  3. 

Zem  Zem,  1. 

Zenana,  46. 

Zwemer,  Peter  John,  97. 


SOME  PRESS  OPINIONS  ON  THE  VOLUMES  IS- 
SUED FOR   THE  UNITED   STUDY  OF   MISSIONS 


Via  Christ!  —  "  Taken  as  a  whole,  the  work  is  well  done,  and  likely  to 
prove  a  very  interesting  and  instructive  introduction  to  the  study 
of  Christian  Missions."  —  Guardian. 

"The  scheme  is  excellent,  and  the  book  cannot  but  prove  useful."  — 
LYMAN  ABBOTT,  D.D.,  in  The  Outlook. 

"Clear,  accurate,  and  comprehensive.  .  .  .  This  series  .  .  .  will  be 
one  of  the  best  contributions  to  mission  literature  ever  made."  — 
Co  ngregatio  nalist. 

"  We  warmly  welcome  this  very  useful  and  interesting  series  of  For- 
eign Missionary  studies.  The  writer  for  each  field  has  been  care- 
fully selected,  and  the  facts  are  set  out  with  skill  and  freshness." 
—  Methodist  Recorder. 

Lux  Christi  —  "It  is  a  model  of  what  such  a  manual  should  be  — 
systematic,  well-proportioned,  highly  suggestive,  and,  above  all, 
readable."  —  Church  Quarterly  Review. 

"  Valuable  and  almost  indispensable  as  a  guide-book  for  the  study  of  a 
great  and  interesting  subject."  —  C.  E.  SCHAFFER,  in  The  Reformed 
Church  Review. 

Dux  Christus  —  "A  well-informed  and  valuable  sketch  on  a  large 
subject."  —  Scotsman. 

Christus  Liberator  —  "  An  earnest  plea  and  a  very  interesting  exposi- 
tion. Where  it  finds  its  way,  interest  in  African  Missions  is  sure 
to  be  quickened."  —  London  Quarterly  Review. 

"  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  how  a  better  book  for  its  intended  purpose 
could  have  been  prepared."  —  New  York  Observer. 

Christus  Redemptor  —  "  For  text-book  purposes  this  volume  is,  on  its 
special  subject,  quite  the  best  with  which  we  are  acquainted."  — 
Christian  World. 


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By  HENRY   S.    NASH 

Professor  of  New  Testament  Interpretation  in  the  Episcopal 
Theological  School  at  Cambridge 

Ethics  and  Revelation 

The  value  and  significance  of  Professor  Nash's  lectures  lie  chiefly 
in  the  advanced  ground  which  he  takes  up  with  regard  to  the 
authority  of  the  Bible  and  the  Church  in  the  matter  of  religious 
and  social  ethics. 

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Genesis  of  the  Social  Conscience 

THE    RELATION    OF   THE    ESTABLISHMENT    OF    CHRISTIANITY    IN 
EUROPE  TO   THE   SOCIAL   QUESTION 

"  To  the  world's  stock  of  good  books  Professor  Nash  has  added 
one  which  is  not  the  work  of  a  clever  summarizer  only,  but  that 
of  a  clear  and  forceful  originator.  Perhaps  not  since  the  publi- 
cation of  Mr.  Kidd's  volume  has  a  more  genuinely  popular 
sociological  work  appeared.  ..."  —  Outlook. 

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The  History  of  the  Higher  Criticism  of  the 
New  Testament 

BEING  THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    PROCESS    WHEREBY    THE    WORD 
OF   GOD   HAS  WON  THE   RIGHT  TO   BE   UNDERSTOOD 

Of  Professor  Nash's  "  Genesis  of  the  Social  Conscience,"  one  critic 
said :  "  The  results  of  Professor  Nash's  ripe  thought  are  presented 
in  a  luminous,  compact,  and  often  epigrammatic  style.  The 
treatment  is  at  once  masterful  and  helpful,  and  the  book  ought  to 
be  a  quickening  influence  of  the  highest  kind;  it  surely  will  estab- 
lish the  fame  of  its  author  as  a  profound  thinker,  one  from  whom 
we  have  a  right  to  expect  future  inspiration  of  a  kindred  sort." 

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The  Atoning  Life 

Professor  Nash  discusses  in  a  profoundly  religious  spirit  the  inner 
principles  of  the  Christian  religion. 

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By  HENRY    C.    KING 

President  of  Oberlin  College 

Personal  and  Ideal  Elements  in  Education 

"  I  am  reading  it  with  great  profit.  It  is  a  magnificent  utterance." 
—  WILLIAM  F.  ANDERSON,  Secy,  Board  of  Education  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

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Reconstruction  in  Theology 

"  Its  pages  represent  what  is  nearly  if  not  actually  the  highwater 
mark  of  skill  and  success  in  blending  a  fearless  yet  discriminating 
progressiveness  with  a  loyal  conservatism  in  theology."  —  Congre- 
gationalist. 

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Theology  and  the  Social  Consciousness 

"A  valuable  contribution  to  current  discussion  ...  it  is  not 
scholastic;  it  is  not  phrased  in  the  technical  language  of  the 
schools;  the  thoughtful  layman  will  readily  understand  it."  — 
Outlook. 

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Rational  Living 

"  As  a  constructive  piece  of  work,  making  religiously  available  the 
results  of  contemporary  researches  in  mind,  the  value  of '  Rational 
Living '  is  tremendous.  At  this  time  particularly,  the  religious 
teacher  needs  just  what  he  finds  in  'Rational  Living'  —  a  book 
sure,  one  thinks,  to  quicken  the  minister  and  his  sermons  and  his 
people."  —  ARTHUR  R.  TAYLOR,  Rector,  Trinity  Memorial  Church, 
Warren,  Pennsylvania. 

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The  Seeming  Unreality  of  the  Spiritual  Life 

The  book  calls  attention  to  the  natural  conditions  of  the  spiritual 
life  without  the  fulfilment  of  which  the  sense  of  reality  cannot  be 
attained. 

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By  the  REV.   WALTER    RAUSCHENBUSCH 

Professor  of  Church  History  in  Rochester  Theological  Seminary 

CHRISTIANITY  AND 

THE  SOCIAL  CRISIS  Cloth>  I2m0;  $I^0  net 

"  It  is  of  the  sort  to  make  its  readers  feel  that  the  book  was  bravely 
written  to  free  an  honest  man's  heart;  that  conscientious  scholarship, 
hard  thinking,  and  the  determination  to  tell  the  truth  as  he  sees  it, 
have  wrought  it  out  and  enriched  it ;  that  it  is  written  in  a  clear, 
incisive  style  ;  that  stern  passion  and  gentle  sentiment  stir  at  times 
among  the  words,  and  keen  wit  and  grim  humor  flash  here  and  there 
in  the  turn  of  a  sentence  ;  and  that  there  is  a  noble  end  in  view.  If 
the  hope  be  too  confident,  if  there  be  once  in  a  while  a  step  taken 
beyond  the  line  of  justice  into  indignation,  if  a  quaint  old  prejudice 
or  even  animosity  bustles  to  the  front  in  an  emergency  —  no  matter. 
It  is  a  book  to  like,  to  learn  from,  and,  though  the  theme  be  sad  and 
serious,  to  be  charmed  with." — N.  Y.  Times' Sat.  Jteview  of  Books. 


By  the  REV.    SHAILER   MATHEWS 

Professor  of  New  Testament  History  and  Interpretation  in  the 
University  of  Chicago 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE 

CHANGING  ORDER  Clofh>  I2mo>  ^.J0  net 

..."  a  most  interesting  and  valuable  contribution  to  the  literature 
of  a  subject  that  is  growing  in  popular  attention  every  day.  While 
among  the  deeply,  really  religious  and  genuinely  scientific  there  is  no 
conflict  or  antagonism  where  even  there  is  not  accord,  this  unfortu- 
nately is  not  commonly  the  case  among  the  masses  who  have  only 
caught  the  forms  of  religious  and  scientific  knowledge  without  their 
spirit.  This  book  is  addressed  much  more  it  seems  to  the  religious 
than  the  scientific,  possibly  because  the  latter  have  the  less  need  for 
repentance.  Those  who  are  troubled  in  any  way  at  the  seeming  con- 
flict between  the  demands  of  faith,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  experiences 
of  their  own  reason  and  the  problems  of  modern  social  and  industrial 
life  will  find  here  much  sage,  illuminating,  and  practical  counsel." 

—  Evening  Post. 

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